5 Step Plan
by psychadelic
Summary: “House,” he didn’t bother to look back at her, he simply mounted his bike, turned the key, revved the engine, before backing out onto the street and taking off at top speed into the dark quiet night. his life was about to change... forever. H/OC H/Cu
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I am making no money on this. It's is simply for entertainment purposes. Will return them to David and Fox as soon as my sandbox is cleaned up.

**A/N:** I don't really know where the inspiration for this came from, but here it is. Hope you like it. The role of Seth will be played by the fantastic Rob Lowe of "The West Wing", because he and Lisa Edelstein had such good chemistry when she appeared on the show. Then again Lisa could have chemistry with a friggin wall, she's just that good.

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Five Step Plan

The snow crunched under his feet as he slowly made his way up to her front door on that chilly Thursday night. After retrieving the spare key from under the pot plant on the doorstep, House contemplated whether he should have just created a dramatic entrance with his usual invasion of her home, or whether he should have been civil and knocked on her door and waited for her permission before entered her home. He was still contemplating his options when he heard a movement from behind the door and he knew it was only a matter of a few seconds before he was caught out or he decided to leave.

He was moody and grouchy and his ducklings noted that he was more unsociable than ever. He hadn't had a decent spat with her in at least a week and he was almost sure she had been avoiding him for the last two weeks; he had no idea of the reason though. He hadn't done anything major enough for her to actually avoid him for two whole weeks. Okay he was over exaggerating; one week and two days felt like an eternity for him wherever she was concerned. He was trying to come up with a witty one liner for her, but his thought process was cut short when the door suddenly swung open revealing her to him.

Her hair was tied up into a messy bun with loose strands managing to escape the wrath the band had exposed them to. She had long ago swapped the power suit she wore during the day for a pair of comfortable pyjamas which comprised of a very snug fitting track pants and a T-shirt that fell off one shoulder and stopped just above her belly button, exposing her porcelain skin to whomever was seated or in his case, standing in front of her. Her make up had already been cleansed off, though her eyes shone with curiosity at it sudden appearance. He saw that she looked relaxed, at ease, like was enjoying her time off at home with her daughter.

Before she could even open her mouth to ask him what he was doing on her doorstep at eleven thirty House's hand had snaked around her waist and he had pulled her up to him, bringing her chest to his. He liked the warm feeling of her body pressed up against his, her chest in full contact with his and the fact that she was not pushing him away at that very moment. He had only experienced this twice before, the last time being almost six years ago when she had lost Joy, the kid she was first going to adopt.

"What do you want?" she knew it was a rhetorical question yet she couldn't stop herself from asking it. It was part of their routine.

"I was in the neighbourhood. Thought I'd come and see if there was some witch gathering at the head quarters," he smiled down at her and his hand snaking further across her waist.

A smile graced her features and she responded lightly, "I could be mistaken, but I think you missed me," she said as she tried to disentangle herself from his grasp, while trying to keep her body from reacting to his touch.

"No, not you in particular, just the twins and the giant ass actually, I forgot how much space it took up in my office," he replied and his lip curved into a half smirk. "And from where I'm standing I think you're the one who was missing me," he continued, as his hand glided over the thin material of her T-shirt to swipe over her now erect nipple.

"It's cold," she defended herself, cursed her body at the same time and tried to fold her arms across her chest so he wouldn't see the effect he had on her. Unfortunately it was too late for her as his fingers felt the hardened bud between them and she let out a slow moan as he rolled it between them.

"Nope! I think the twins are happy to see me, and despite what your mouth is saying, your body is telling me it wants this" he said as he nuzzled the hollow at the base of her throat. He sucked on her skin gently, fingers gliding up and down the length of her arms leaving them blazing in their wake. He continued to kiss her throat slowly, tantalisingly, never stopping long enough on one spot for her to be satisfied. Instinctively she raised her hands and tangled them in the short gray hairs on the back of his head, pulling him closer into her. She felt one of his hands slide beneath her T-shirt, his long fingers dancing across her smooth skin, heating her from the inside.

A noise from inside the living room startled them both, but not enough for them to release each other. It took a minute or two for her brain to start functioning and it was only then that she realised what she was about to do with her most annoying, yet favourite employee.

"Where's the sprog?" it was an unintentional question that left his mouth before his brain could filter and send it to the dumb questions section of his mind.

"She inside, asleep," Cuddy whispered as she thought of her angelic brown eyed, dark haired daughter who was resting peacefully on the sofa in the living room.

"Cool, that means I get mommy all to myself tonight" he raised his eyebrows suggestively and she merely rolled her eyes at him. He was so damn predictable at times. He leaned down to kiss her again, but stopped when he heard the footfalls on the carpet. He had just enough time to let go of her, pull himself out of her grasp and step back before he saw a head poke out from behind the door.

"Lisa, is everything okay?" House heard the male voice and though he was surprised at Cuddy's visitor, there was no expression on his face to show it. He stepped out from behind the door and House could see him fully, now.

He was almost as tall as House, had short brown hair, parted on the side though untidy enough to make him look at least ten years younger than he really was, and warm blue gray eyes that danced in the light. His mouth was curved up into a friendly smile, which House noted, reached his eyes and showed the dimples in both his cheeks perfectly. He was slim, yet well built and somehow House got the feeling this was not one of Cuddy's regular dates. In fact, he didn't even know his boss was seeing anyone at the moment. The last time she was on a date was almost two years ago, and she didn't leave any indication that she was dating at the moment. How could he possibly have missed it?

House was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the soft whimper. He looked down at the man's arms and he had to admit he was thrown at the scene in front of him. Rachel was cradled in the man's arms, her head resting gently on his broad shoulder and his shirt clenched tightly in her small fist. Rachel was beginning to fuss and Cuddy placed a soothing hand on the child's back stroking lightly as she cooed sweetly to the little girl.

A hot ball of jealousy made its way from House's gut to his brain and he clenched his fist unconsciously ready to strike the man standing before him. He was sure he wasn't one of Rachel's biggest fans since he now had to fight for Cuddy's attention with her, but the sight of another man standing on Cuddy's porch with her sprog in his arms made House see red. There was no way he was going to let that happen, even if it meant he had to start liking the little runt.

As Rachel settled down again, the man looked up at House, the smile still gracing his features and he extended a hand toward the diagnostician.

"Hi I'm Seth, and you are?" House noted Seth's disarrayed and rumpled clothes and mental images of him and Cuddy made their way into his mind. The longer he stood there, the angrier he was going to get, so he made up his mind that he would deal with this when he had simmered down.

"Leaving," House replied as he looked at Cuddy, his face still expressionless and made his way over to his bike parked in her driveway.

He heard Cuddy saying Seth should take Rachel inside before she caught a cold, but he was almost at his bike when he heard her call him softly.

"House," he didn't bother to look back at her, he simply mounted his bike, turned the key, revved the engine, before backing out onto the street and gunning the engine at top speed and taking off into the dark quiet night.

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Should I continue? Should I not?

Let me know.

Pretty please??


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I am making no money on this. It is simply for entertainment purposes. Will return them to David and Fox as soon as my sandbox is cleaned up.

**A/N:** The role of Seth will be played by Rob Lowe (The West Wing and more recently Brothers and Sisters). Also this is kind of a filler chapter before the story gets going. Hope you guys enjoy it.

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5 Step Plan

She watched until the single taillight and the familiar roar of the motorcycle was totally swallowed by the darkness as she trudged up to her front door and let out a tired sigh. This was not the way she planned on spending the evening at all, and while she knew he would react this way, she was still taken aback by his actions. Her heart was still thumping wildly behind her ribcage and she tried to regulate her breathing, to help stop the burning in her chest. House was not one to simply walk away from a situation like this, in fact he lived for the times when he could walk in on her and ruin her dates, but his behaviour tonight had her baffled. He didn't even seem interested in the man now standing in her lounge. Well it was either he really wasn't interested or he was going to call his PI friend to find whatever he could about Seth.

Cuddy closed the door as softly as she could, hoping the noise wouldn't wake Rachel who was a light sleeper. She leaned her forehead against the cool wood of the door and her mind ran at a thousand miles a minute. What the heck was she thinking when she allowed him to feel her up like that. Sure, they were friends for the last two decades of their lives, and yes they'd shared one passion filled kiss when she had lost Joy, but that certainly did not give him the right to free reign of her whenever he felt like it. And besides it was not like they were in a relationship, she was seeing someone else.

"Lisa?" she heard Seth's gentle voice calling for her from her living room. She heaved in a deep breath, stood up straight and made her way to where he was currently seated on her sofa in the living room. Rachel was now cradled in his arms, her hand clenching his shirt as tightly as she could muster and but sleeping peacefully. Cuddy didn't have the strength to deal with talking to Seth about House; in fact she had hoped he would meet House under very different circumstances and on her terms.

"I'm going to put Rachel down," she said and proceeded to take the sleeping child from his arms and to her bedroom. Seth was a few feet behind her. Clearly he did not share the same thoughts as she did, and she thought he was right, he was going to find out about House sooner or later, and while she wished it would be later, she decided the sooner she told him the better it would be for the both of them. She was thinking of what to say , when he broke the silence, and changed her train of thought in the process.

"You look tired, maybe we should call it a night and head to bed," Seth suggested after Cuddy had placed Rachel in her bed, tucked her in and covered her with her favourite blue and white Donald Duck blanket. For some reason she loved the blanket, she would not part with it at all. Somehow Cuddy liked to think it was because House had given it to her.

"You should head up, I still have a bit of paperwork to do," she replied as she walked back to the lounge and retrieved her laptop and a stack of papers from her bag and waited for her notebook to power up before she made herself comfortable for a long night of work on her sofa. Seth seemed undisturbed by the night's events and she knew House would not return anytime soon so she was okay for now. She would deal with House tomorrow when she had more caffeine in her system and she could hide behind her power suits. And if he didn't bring it up, which was highly unlikely she would let the sleeping dogs lie.

Cuddy waited for him to barge into her office, demanding answers from her about her 'date' as soon as he walked in, but when at three o clock House still didn't show up in her office she went to see him.

0 o 0 o 0 o 0

House rode for almost an hour and a half before he decided it was too cold to ride anymore and headed in the direction of his apartment. This was going to be one of the longest nights of his life, and somehow he knew he was going to be excruciating pain, worse than when she and Stacy had decided to take out the muscle from his thigh. Still, he knew she was not responsible for that pain, it was a purely medical decision that would save his life, and yet he blamed it all on her. This felt like she was taking his life away.

He pulled out the bottle of bourbon from the closet in the hall and crashed onto the sofa. His cane fell between the sofa and the coffee table with a thud. His leg was throbbing and his head felt like it was about to explode. He needed to sleep but every time he closed his eyes the domestic picture of Cuddy and her male friend holding the kid in his arms made its way unbidden into his mind and it drove him to keep his eyes open and his mind busy with thoughts other than Cuddy. He sat restlessly for five minutes and then channel hopped, with the hope that something would capture his attention, but he was unlucky. He finally settled on the piano bench and played until the notes soothed his heart and cleared his mind, for an hour. His night passed in a blur of alcohol induced sleep and the painful throbbing in his thigh waking him up.

He reached work at a decent hour the next day, at least according to his team he was early. Anytime before noon was early for House. He didn't have a patient at the moment and he didn't want to do the paper work that was piling up on his desk. He would get Cameron or Thirteen to do it for him. And he would get one of them to deliver it to her as well, at least then he wouldn't have to see her. Luck however was not on his side, he noted, when she walked into his office a few minutes later.

"I need to talk to you," her voice was serious her expression pained.

"That' not the impression I got last night."

"That's because I didn't expect you to show up unexpectedly."

"So, do you entertain them even when the sprog is awake?" he knew he was being an ass but he couldn't help himself, he was still stinging from the previous night.

"That is not fair," her voice rose with every word, causing his lackeys to look up with interest at their boss, and their boss's boss.

"I mean with his rumpled shirt and pants and your clothes, or lack thereof, it should've given me some indication that you were busy, too bad I miss read the signs," he continued as though she hadn't said anything.

"House," she started and the tone of her voice made him want to take back all his nasty words at once and actually apologise to her, but he stood his ground, not allowing her to defend herself.

"Sorry, gotta run, I have clinic duty to do and if I don't to it, the she devil of a boss who runs this place will take my heart out and stamp all over it before killing me very slowly and very torturously," he replied and with that he brushed past her and exited his office, making his way toward the clinic on the ground level of the hospital.

Cuddy was once again left standing, watching his retreating back as he limped down the corridor in the direction of the elevators and out of her sight, his last words to her spinning around in her head. She had no idea just how true they were to him…

This was going to be worse than either of them thought.

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Reviews will be appreciated. This chapter didn't turn out as great as I wanted it to... but I needed a filler and I didn't want to wait too long between posting. The story should start getting better with the next chapter.

As usual should I continue or not? Let me know,

Pretty please???


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter... real life somehow got in the way. It's slightly longer than the previous two and I hope just as entertaining. The next one should be up soon.

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5 Step Plan Part III

Four days passed by and although House felt the need to go to her office and annoy her just for the fun of it, he refrained from doing so. He didn't want to deal with her and her emotions, but more importantly he didn't want to deal with his own emotions. That, however, did not stop him from wreaking havoc in the hospital though, and he relished every chance he got, just to see her tight lipped and her gray eyes burning with fury. What a sight it was to behold, and even from a ten feet distance, to see her in all her infuriated glory, the scene was worth it.

At first he thought it would be a bad idea if he went looking for trouble, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. If he suddenly stopped infuriating his boss on a regular basis his current team, his former team and his best friend would know about it and he definitely didn't need them poking their noses in his business at the moment. He needed time to think about what he was going to do to win her back, not that there was a competition and she was up for grabs, but he figured he needed a game plan if it did turn out to be the case.

The first task was quite simple and while he considered the idea of involving the first year interns just so that he wouldn't get caught and bear the brunt of her wrath, House decided he would risk it. He slipped into the radiology department undetected and took a seat in front of the CT machine. Fortunately for him there were no patients and he had free reign of the room. He picked up the keyboard and managed to pull up the setup page of the application that ran the programme. He pressed a few more keys and entered different variables into the system.

He knew it would take a few minutes to correct, but he was counting on the reaction of the radiology department staff. He knew they would run straight to Cuddy and lodge a complaint against him with her and she would come stalking down the corridors looking for him. He was left disappointed four hours later however, when it was time to go home and she still hadn't arrived at his office. Damn he would have to think of another plan and soon.

His next chance came on Thursday; two days later, when he was forced to do clinic duty by Wilson, his ever moral best friend and also known as Cuddy's ass kisser to House. Since Cuddy had not taken the initiative to come and see him, he decided he would wait it out and only approach her when there was a desperate need for him to do so. He also assumed this was the reason Wilson was bugging him about his clinic duty and not Cuddy.

Three hours of dealing with runny noses, a zucchini shoved so far up an orifice even House was too disgusted to remove and crotch rot was too much for him to deal with. He was relieved when he stepped out of exam room 2 half an hour later, done with his share of clinic duty for the day and happy to have his last patient out of his sight. He was even happier when he saw the first year interns huddled in a corner at the far end of the clinic. One of them saw his approaching, but unfortunately for them House was only two feet away from them when the puny intern decided to warn the rest of his mates about House's impending approach.

"The first runt who is able to get that devil spawn out of Cuddy's office in the next ten minutes will get one weeks paid leave," House said as he neared the group of young impressionable minds and pointed to where Rachel lay peacefully asleep on Cuddy's leather couch. They, in return, all looked up in awe at House, he was a legend and they knew it. They knew him, or well they knew of him and they knew his reputation that he didn't take well to socialising on any level, so the fact that he had assigned them a task meant they were in for something big.

"The only catch is, if you get caught, it's your ass on the line, and you will do thirty hours of MY clinic duty," he continued. "If you are successful in getting the sprog out of mommy's office, undetected, leave her in Dr Wilson's office immediately, unharmed." He emphasised the word unharmed, a silent threat to the intern who actually managed to get the sleeping sprog out of mommy dragon's den.

It was a task that was easier said than done, and even though he knew the interns would squirm at the thought of getting caught, they couldn't dampen the thrilling feeling that came if they actually got the job done. Besides he knew they felt the need to impress the legend in the hope of getting noticed by him. House laughed to himself and shook his head at them. Well it would be entertaining for him when Cuddy found her precious bundle of joy missing from her office.

Finally the voice he had been anxious to hear for the last two weeks came ringing down the corridors a mere forty five minutes later. He could make out by the tone of her voice that she was livid, though a tinge of desperation made its way through, as she shouted for him and she approached his office, her three inched Prada heels clacking dangerously on the vinyl flooring. He had just enough time to compose his features into one of complete disinterest before she barged into his office, and peaked the interest of three his four lackeys who were currently just lazing about in the adjoining office.

"Where. Is. She?" The words came out through clenched teeth and her usually dancing light blue eyes had taken on a steel gray tinge. She was not in the mood to be playing games, and considering this was her spawn they were looking for he knew better than to infuriate her further. But the truth was; he really did not have any clue as to where the nipper was at that moment. He looked up from his computer screen and turned to face her, forgetting his pretend research for a moment.

"I don't know," he answered honestly though he had a feeling that she was in Wilson's office. Whichever intern had enough balls to take on mommy dragon was sure worth the praise and leave he was about to receive from House. Cuddy stepped further into his office and her hands took up residence on her hips, a sure sign that she was not about to believe anything that came out of his mouth.

"House," another step forward and she was now leaning over his desk, open palms resting on the cool glass surface that was not covered with papers.

"I am warning you, if anything happens to her…" but she left the sentence hanging unable to come up with any plan that actually involved hurting the man currently standing across her.

He stood up to her height and leaned in toward her, their faces barely an inch apart. She could feel his warm breath on her lips and she was instantly reminded of a specific night almost three weeks ago, his hands burning trails on her body and her hands tangled in his hair as he kissed her skin and made her gasp without any effort. He saw her eyes soften, changing from the steel gray hue to a cool blue and he knew he had her full attention.

"You could've asked me to just feel you up again, instead of giving a free show you know," he said trying to gauge her mood and diffuse the situation at the same time. She tried to keep her voice hard, but her brilliant blush gave her away immediately.

"Cuddy," Wilson's voice broke the spell and House retracted swiftly, "I've been looking all over for you. Rachel was asleep in my office and I didn't want to wake her but now I think she needs a change of clothes and something to eat," he informed the Dean and walked into the Diagnostician's office, his larger hand holding Rachel's smaller one. Cuddy did not turn to look at him and Wilson looked from his boss to his best friend and back to his boss. There was something going on that he had clearly interrupted or missed altogether. A chance look to House's lackeys told him nothing either. They were now too busy trying to look occupied with something besides the scene that had just unfolded before them. Wilson knew that by the end of the day the entire hospital would be buzzing with whatever news he had missed between his best friend and their boss.

The plan for the last havoc wreaking stunt came to him as he rode his death trap to work on Saturday; two days after the Rachel incident, and this time he'd make sure one of the interns were responsible for the exploit, seeing as none of them owned up to actually being able to dupe the devil incarnate herself. He noticed a pretty blonde intern walking down the hallway to the cafeteria and called out to her. She turned to look at him and as soon as she did so her face and ears were flushed red. Oh this was going to be fun. He had her call two of her colleges to help with the plan. This also had to be done on a weekend because weekdays were just too hectic to pull a stunt like this.

At precisely half past twelve, House paged Wilson and told him to come down to the cafeteria for an urgent consult, and Wilson being the trusty sidekick and more than gullible idiot when it came to House, raced to the eating hall. He saw House take a seat in one of the booths on the far end of the cafeteria and Wilson made his way over to his friend.

"What was so damn important?" he huffed as he took a seat that House had pushed out with is leg.

"Nothing, Just wanted to see your reaction time if I had to call you to a real emergency," House said nonchalantly, his eyes trained on the scene in front of him. Wilson was quick to notice House's lack of attention to their conversation and turned to see what had caught his friend's attention so fully. He paled a bit at the sight of Cuddy making her way to the cafeteria with a good looking, well dressed donor behind her. Wilson decided her would get her number after Cuddy was done talking to her.

Wilson was halfway through his club sandwich when he felt the droplets on his head. He looked up to confirm what he thought was happening and when he saw the look on the diagnostician's face, he knew this was no coincidence. Within a few seconds the entire cafeteria was dripping with water from the ceiling. Someone had obviously set off the smoke detectors and Wilson knew that even though House was not directly involved, he was involved nonetheless.

House heard the soft curse that escaped his boss's mouth as he passed her in an attempt to get out of the now extremely wet and slippery cafeteria and to the dry safety of his office or the clinic. He shivered as his arm came into contact with her drenched shirt sleeve and for a second he felt a twang of guilt for making her suffer. It was winter after all. Somehow he wasn't as wet as she was but he still needed to change his T-shirt before he got sick, and so he allowed her to pass him in her hurry to get to her office and out of her wet clothes. And that's when it hit him, this was his chance, forget his office, he was going straight to hers.

He followed her past the clinic, past her new assistant and straight through the double doors that led to her office. He was in such a rush to get to her, that he did not even notice her standing just inside the double doors, the water from her clothes dripping onto the plush carpet of her office, and rammed right into her.

"House," she didn't have to see that it was him, she knew by his unique footsteps, and her gut told her he would follow her anyway. They stood still for a few minutes, until a shiver coursed through her body.

"You should get out of those clothes before you catch a cold, it's not exactly summer out there" His voice held no sarcasm; he was genuinely concerned about her. When she made no attempt to move he made up his mind to help her. He could see she was turning blue slowly and he knew she was too cold to move anyway. He turned her to face him and she looked up at him, his blue orbs pinning hers. His fingers slowly started unbuttoning the first button of her blouse.

He knew she could stop him, she knew she should stop him; they both knew she wouldn't. There were tiny droplets on her hair, making them glow in the dim light coming in from the window and this only increased his want for her. After he undid the last button of her shirt he stopped, waiting for her to make the next move. He left her shirt closed, and the material stuck to her graceful body, accentuating her curves, making her look more perfect than usual. Her hands found themselves in his hair, pulling his face closer to hers until her lips felt his and she kissed him lightly. If he was taken by surprise he did not show it.

One of her hands stayed in his hair while the other skated down his torso and abdomen, coming to a stop just above his pubic bone. He took this as his invitation to touch her as well and he gently pushed her drenched shirt off her. House backed her up until her back came into contact with the cool wall and she arched into him at the feel of the cold plaster on the skin of her back. She gasped and he slipped his tongue into her mouth, probing, tasting, aching for more of her and he felt all the blood rushing to his groin when her tongue met his.

His hands traced a blazing trail up her spine, stopping on every vertebra until he came to her neck and they made their way back down to her bra strap. He disengaged his mouth from hers for a few minutes, to get his breath back. He hadn't been kissed like that in a long time and god it felt good. He didn't want it to stop anytime soon, not knowing when the next chance to kiss Lisa Cuddy would come.

They were brought out of their heated cocoon when he heard a voice outside the doors of the office.

"Yes I'm sure you had a lunch meeting with Doctor Cuddy but I'm afraid she was paged to the paediatric ward for an emergency. I tell you what you get me a good cup of coffee from the Starbucks across the street and I will get Dr Cuddy to see you as soon as you return," the kind female voice said.

"Are you trying to bribe me," House recognised the voice immediately and Cuddy stiffened at the sound of it. There was no mistaking it; Seth was right outside that door.

"No, all I'm saying is that a good cup of Java will make my day better and in turn I will make yours better. The way I see it, it's a win-win situation." Damn she was good.

"Fine," they heard Seth's defeated response. Followed by the girl's instructions on how she wanted her coffee. "Make sure it's extra strong, extra large and piping hot when it comes to me, no sugar either."

Cuddy's door was pushed open slightly and a scrawny arm holding two sets of different coloured scrubs came through the crack.

"Thought you might need these." damn, whoever this person was, she was extremely observant.

House reached out and grabbed them and it was only when Cuddy had dressed she noticed that she did not have a spencer or a blouse, but instead a T-shirt, a very distinct T-shirt under her scrub top. It was the one House had left in her dorm room almost twenty years ago, and now here she was, wearing it in front of him.

House watched as she pulled on a familiar black T-shirt over her head and his heart started racing when he saw exactly which one it was. It was his favourite Jack Daniels one he thought he had lost almost twenty years ago. Never in his life did he expect her to have it.

"It looks better on you than it ever did on me," he said as he pulled the drawstrings to his pants tighter. He had to let her know he recognised his clothing.

"House," she started, but he didn't let her finish, instead he cut her off.

"I should get going Seth will be here any minute now," he said and walked out of her office, leaving her riled up, unsatisfied and completely confused by his behaviour. She sighed in defeat… damn they were going in circles.

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Please read and review, they make me happy, also they give me an indication of whether I should continue this or not.

So should I... shouldn't I? press the button below and let me know.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter 1

**A/N:** So this is like the tenth version of this chapter but somehow I'm just not quite satisfied with it. Anyway a new character makes an appearance and it's the return of some old ones too. Hope you guys like it. Not Beta-ed so all mistakes are mine.

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Part IV

It was a quiet, slow Saturday afternoon three weeks later, and House was quietly sitting behind his desk in his office doing research on a medical condition of a patient he had come across while he was in the ER trying to annoy Cameron. Granted, irritating the blonde ER doctor was nowhere as much fun as it was pestering Cuddy, but the repercussions weren't as bad with the younger blonde woman either. It seemed she still had a very tiny crush on him and he found that no matter how much he pushed her buttons, she simply was not going to lose her temper and give him the pleasure of seeing her all riled up. After a week of trying to get her to yell at him, he simply gave up and retreated to the confinement of his office. Well, in her defence he was trying to get a child to play an adults' game… surely it was bound to fail.

He was immersed in the thousand plus paged book when Wilson walked into his office a few minutes before one 'o clock. The oncologist waited for his friend to acknowledge him, but when House showed no sign of even hearing Wilson enter his office, Wilson decided to interrupt the diagnostician for a few minutes. It was only fair, since House had spent the major part of the previous two weeks bothering him, interrupting him while he was consulting with patients and more recently suggesting Wilson and House were a couple, when he saw an attractive red headed woman with huge breasts trying to chat up the good looking boy wonder oncologist.

"Okay fine I give up. What are you up to?" Wilson said by way of greeting, one eyebrow cocked at his best friend.

"Excuse me," House's attention diverted from the book to the man sitting on the chair opposite him.

"You haven't caused any trouble, you haven't broken any hospital machinery, you've actually did more than half your clinic hours for the last three weeks, you haven't asked for any ridiculous tests on your patients, and you haven't been in Cuddy's office for reasons not relating to cases or patients for a while now. Just what the hell are you up to?" Wilson demanded.

"Yes, and just because I haven't caused any trouble for a while you think I'm up to something. Seriously, do you not think I can behave myself? I am a grown man after all," House replied; his words laced with sarcasm.

He actually had thought of wreaking havoc in the hospital earlier in the week, but a certain memory of Lisa Cuddy pressed up against him, kissing the hell out of him, kept making its way, unbidden, into his mind and he figured he should stay away from the devil woman for a while if he valued his sanity. Well that and the fact that Cuddy had brought Rachel and the baby's new nanny, Seth, to work with her for the better part of the last three weeks kept him out of her sight. He didn't want to run into her Mr Perfect if he didn't have to. Okay well Seth wasn't actually Rachel's nanny, but the fact that he didn't seem to have anything else to do but hang around Cuddy and Rachel made House think he really was her nanny.

A soft beep from his computer alerted House that it was now half past one and to him that meant he could go home for the weekend or well what was left of it, seeing as he and his team didn't have a life to save at the moment.

"Well what do you know, time flies when you're having fun. Sorry gotta go," he said to Wilson as he punched his arms into the sleeves of his red and black leather jacket, picked up his, hoisted his bag onto his shoulder, grabbed his helmet with one hand, cane in his other and exited his office leaving Wilson to stare at his retreating form.

House was all set on going home, crashing on his sofa and drowning his misery in a bottle of bourbon, but at the last minute he changed his mind and headed in the direction of the bar he and Wilson had frequented before Cut Throat Bitch had wormed her way into the oncologist's life and more importantly his heart. It was at times like these that House often hated the fact that he was so damn miserable. That he himself had built up walls around himself shut everyone out and generally kept himself unhappy. Well the one time he did let his guard down and let someone in, Stacy had ripped his heart out and shredded it into pieces. And now, almost five years after the second encounter with her and her new husband House was still trying to repair his broken heart.

He walked into the bar and looked around for a place to sit. The place was almost packed, since it was a Saturday afternoon and people usually came in early to grab a few drinks and socialise before the games got going and everyone sat down to watch and cheer for their respective teams. He spotted an empty stool next to a long haired woman seated at the bar counter in the corner and hobbled his way over in that direction. He was hoping the woman wouldn't try making small talk because he was in no mood to tell anyone of his woman troubles, or rather the lack thereof, and he sure as hell didn't want to hear about their problems.

The bartender made his way to House just as he made himself comfortable on the stool, placed a bowl of peanuts in between House and the woman and took House's order, which was a Double Scotch, single malt on the rocks. The balding barman returned a few minutes later with House's drink, and with a nod of her head, the woman next to him ordered a refill for herself, which the barman was not too happy to refill.

"That's three doubles of scotch neat, I think you've had enough to drink ma'am," came the bartender's voice over the counter.

"I've had enough when I say I've had enough, Joe, and right now I'm not nearly as drunk as you think I might be," House was surprised by the strong, confident tone she spoke in, and he believed her when she said she was not drunk. There were no slur to her words and her eyes were focused intently on the man standing across her. Nope she was definitely far from drunk.

Joe returned with her drink and grudgingly set it before her on the counter, then walked toward the other end of the bar to attend to his new customers. They sat in silence for a while, Houses eyes roaming over her form. If she had any idea he was doing so she gave no indication of it, she simply sat there nursing her drink in silence looking a million miles away. The diagnostician was so caught up in examining the woman sitting next to him that he didn't notice her head turn in his direction and was caught off guard when he lifted his gaze to her face and probing blue eyes met amused black ones. The corner of her mouth turned up in an amused smirk, but she didn't break the eye contact with him.

From the two minute appraisal he managed to see that she was younger than Cameron but at least a year or two older than Thirteen. Long jet black wavy hair tumbled from her head to three quarter way down her back. He was surprised to see she had black eyes since they weren't common, but somehow it suited her and the eyeliner she wore added to the effect. Her lips were full and painted a deep red shade, which he had yet to see any woman pull off as well as the one sitting before him did.

Her short sleeved blood red cotton turtleneck hugged her body well enough to show all her curves, and came to an end just above the waistband of her hip hugging black bootleg jeans. Four inch, pointy toed, stiletto heeled knee high boots adorned her feet. Her hands were small, elegant; her nails not manicured as most women's were but they were cut short and neat. It looked like she was a hands-on person, preferring to do most things herself rather than get someone to do them for her. He was greatly surprised when he saw the logo on her turtleneck, 'I used to care, but now I take a pill for that'.

Then she gave him a thorough once over, taking in as much detail as she could and processing at double speed. Feeling her eyes raking inspecting him, he suddenly felt nervous for some reason so he ordered another glass of a double scotch single malt, and swallowed it in one gulp, and then motioned for Joe to get him another. She noted the sneaker clad feet, matching socks, faded jeans that fit him well; she'd seen that as he walked in her direction earlier.

A loud black T-shirt with a gold printed Jack Daniels man graced his muscled torso, under a creased long sleeved shirt that was unbuttoned at least half way down his chest. His black jacket was hanging over the backrest of the barstool. His hands were thin and fingers long, well kempt and attractive; (though neither hand had either an engagement or a wedding ring) artist's fingers she thought. He must play the piano or guitar or drums, if looking at his T-shirt was anything to go by.

His face was rugged and the slight scruff that covered the bottom half of his face only made him look more attractive than ever. His lips were set in a smug smirk while his sapphire blue eyes sparkled with amusement. The salt and pepper hair that covered his head added to the already appealing features she had observed in him.

"Like what you see?" came a voice and she had to do a double take as she now saw his gaze pinned on her and he was talking to her. She had to breathe deeply a few times, get her heart rate to calm down somewhat and somehow not let the red blush she knew was attempting to make its presence known on her cheeks, neck and ears and give her away, before she allowed herself to answer him. God, his voice was sexy, and he didn't even look like he was trying…

"Not enough to take it home just yet," she replied smoothly, then turned to take a large sip from the glass of scotch that was resting on the counter in front of her. He copied her actions and emptied his glass in one gulp before signalling to Joe for a refill.

"How about ten minutes from now?" he asked, his one eyebrow raised in question.

She simply smiled at him and it was then he saw the deep dimple in her left cheek. Damn she was turning out to be hotter than he had expected her to be…

He was disturbed by the sound of his ringing phone, and without looking at the caller ID he simply said, "My shift is over, whatever it is deal with it."

The woman saw his reaction through his eyes, but it was gone in the blink of an eye. Whatever the person had said on the other end of the line, it could not have been good news. Her assumption was solidified when she heard him calling for the bartender and asking for a refill and a bottle of scotch to go.

He swallowed the drink in one large gulp, slapped a few bills onto the counter and slid off the stool. But he was drunk and he faltered as his right leg hit the ground causing him to cuss in anger. Joe was over in a second to claim House's keys and was dialling a number for a cab when the woman assure Joe that she would take House home, safe and sound. She placed an arm around his waist and helped him up, grabbing his helmet and cane in the other hand.

Thankfully her car was parked just outside the door and she did not have to struggle to far with him. She searched in his pockets for any form of ID or an address and was amused when she noticed that he stayed at the same address that she did. So he was the insomniac twirp who kept her up at odd hours of the night. He was also in a lot of pain, she noted when she saw the orange bottle of Vicodin in his left jeans pocket. The fact that he kept it on him, meant he needed them often.

She brought her Mercedes to a stop in front of the building and helped him into his apartment, making sure he was lying safely in the centre of his bed, before she placed a glass of water and his pill bottle on his nightstand, knowing he would need it as soon as he woke up the next morning. She contemplated helping him change into softer clothes for sleeping but decided against it, when she saw the amount of effort it would take. She left the room quietly, hoping whatever it was that occurred tonight would blow over by the morning. Little did they know…

0 o 0 o 0 o 0

It was just after ten o clock when Lisa Cuddy turned her Lexus into her driveway and came to a stop outside the garage door. She switched off the lights and cut the engine as she placed the gearshift into the park position and sat in her seat. She had no energy to do anything now; all she needed was a warm shower and good night's sleep. But the light from her living room indicated that was not going to happen. Rachel was clearly still awake and even though her sitter would've tried to put the child to sleep, she knew the young girl had fought a losing battle. Rachel would never sleep unless her mother read her a story and tucked her in at night. It was what she was used to, even when Seth had tried one night after Cuddy had called to say she would be late, Rachel had waited up for her and only when Mommy had tucked her in did the five year old fall asleep.

She picked up her laptop bag from the passenger seat as well as the paperwork that needed to be completed by Monday and made her way up the pathway to her front door. She fed the key into the keyhole and turned it, unlocking the door and pushing it open, allowing the light from the hall to spill into the open doorway. She stepped quietly into the house, hoping beyond hope that her little bundle of hyper-active nerves was actually asleep, and placed her stuff on the table as she closed the door and made her way to the living room. She was not surprised to find the sitter long gone and Seth fast asleep while Rachel was still awake and watching a rerun of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

The little girl turned to toward the doorway and squealed with excitement as she saw her mother's figure leaning against the wall. She hopped off the couch; her dark curly hair bouncing on her head as she did so and ran into her mother's waiting arms. Cuddy scooped Rachel from the floor and hugged her fiercely. The feeling of her daughter's warm, soft body against hers made her forget about the bad day she had been experiencing and Cuddy was happy that Rachel was still awake.

"Hey sweetheart," she said as she walked toward the couch where Rachel was seated at a few minutes before.

"You are supposed to be asleep already, its way past your bedtime," she continued when the little girl didn't say anything.

"I was waiting for you, mommy, I can't sleep without a bed time story" Rachel said after a short while.

"I know sweetie. Now lets brush your teeth, get you changed into your pyjamas, and into bed," Cuddy said as she stood up and carried her child to the bathroom to start with her night routine.

Ten minutes later both Cuddy woman were in Rachel's bedroom, the little girl in her favourite Donald Duck pyjamas and warmly tucked in under her blankets and mommy sitting on a low stool beside the bed, a large book in her hand, ready to start reading to Rachel.

"Not far from the castle, in a small village, lived a beautiful girl named Belle. Belle loved to read tales of far off places, magic spells, and princes in disguise. She yeaned for excitement in her life, and for someone to share it with," Cuddy's voice floated through the bedroom, Rachel's eyes focused on her mother's face as she continued reading.

When she had finished reading Beauty and The Beast, Cuddy thought Rachel would have slept away, but as she looked at her daughter's face, Cuddy saw Rachel's furrowed brow, and she saw the cogs of her brain turning. Cuddy smiled automatically, Rachel looked exactly like House did when he was in one of his deep thought process, and her heart skipped a beat at the thought of the limping diagnostician.

"Mommy, do you think the beast was a really bad person?" Rachel asked.

"No Rachel I think the beast was a nice, kind person, he just didn't know how to show it," Cuddy answered.

"Mommy will you watch the movie with me tomorrow?"

"Yes, sweetie I will, but you have to sleep now and so tomorrow will come sooner, okay?" Cuddy said.

"Okay, Goodnight mommy," Rachel greeted her mother, turned onto her side and closed her eyes to indicate she was now ready to sleep.

"Goodnight my angel," Cuddy relied and placed a soft kiss on Rachel's cheek before she switched off the lamp and exited the room, leaving the door open a bit so the light from the hallway filtered into the room not leaving Rachel in total darkness.

Cuddy stepped out of the room bumped right into Seth who had been standing just outside the door, listening to mother and daughter. His lips were set in a warm smile and his tired eyes were alight with affection. She stiffened immediately at the feel of her body against his. This was not something she wanted to deal with now… or ever actually.

"There's still a bit of pasta and sauce if you're hungry. I could warm it up for you," Seth said as he stepped away from her and headed to the kitchen.

"Yeah, that would be nice. I'm going to take a shower and I'll be right back," she informed him, watching his retreating back.

They were both seated at the dinner table, plates of pasta and sauce in front of them, but while Seth actually got down to eating his dinner, Cuddy merely pushed around the pasta screws on her plate, she was lost deep in thought.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" Seth asked after a while. Cuddy was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Seth's voice.

"I'm sorry, what was the question?" her blank look giving her away immediately.

"Lisa, you haven't been yourself lately. You seem on edge sometimes, you space out when I'm trying to have a conversation with you. You've been working later hours for the past two weeks at least. You haven't spent time with Rachel this week, and no, taking her to work with you doesn't mean you spent time with her, it just meant she was in the same building with you. Do you want to tell me what's going on?" he asked.

"The hospital's just busier than usual so there's more work for me to see to. And it's coming to the end of the year so the annual end of year fundraiser will be coming up, which I will have to plan and see that it gets done. The finance department has a three month backlog. It's just a bit busier than normal right now, my diagnostician is behaving weirdly, but I'm fine, really," she didn't know if she was trying to convince him or herself more.

"Maybe we should get your mind off work for a while," Seth suggested as he cleared their plates and glasses from the table and placed them in the sink. He threw Cuddy's uneaten portion away and washed the dishes leaving them to drip dry on the dish rack.

He took a hold of her hand as he exited the kitchen, led her to the living room and sat down on the two seater couch Rachel had been sitting on earlier that evening. They channel hopped till finally Cuddy decided she would settle for some medical procedure show where one of the lead character's names was McDreamy. She didn't know why though, he was not dreamy in any way; unless you counted the somewhat droopy eyes which made him look like he was dreaming. And there was something going on with his hair, almost like it had a life of its own.

Lisa felt Seth's hand settle on her waist, pulling her closer to him. He nuzzled his nose in her groove of her neck and breathed in her scent. He placed a gentle kiss on the crook of her shoulder and neck, his hand drawing inane patterns on her hip. He kissed her neck, sucking gently at the hollow at the base of her throat, and her body shuddered involuntarily. Seth lifted his other hand to cup her cheek and turned her face to face his, the pad of his thumb gently caressing the soft flesh. He leaned into her, pushing her until she was lying on the sofa as he aligned his body to hers and let half his body rest on the sofa and the other half over her.

They'd shared kisses in the past, but it had never gone as far as this and Cuddy wasn't sure if she was ready for it. She hadn't been with someone for a long time, and the fear of it going all wrong made its way into her mind. She felt his hand on her skin on her abdomen as his fingertips grazed it gently. Then slowly he leaned down to her and introduced his lips to hers. He sucked gently allowing her to deepen it if she wanted, while his heart thudded in his chest. Cuddy's eyes closed and she returned his kiss, moulding her lips to his. His hand snaked achingly slow up her torso, stopping at the mound of her breast. Damn, she wasn't wearing a bra.

His thumb swiped over her peaked nipple and she ached into him as a groaned low in the back of her throat, forcing her to open her mouth. He took this as the opportunity to acquaint his tongue with hers and within seconds their tongues were dancing with each others. He cupped her breasts and swiped his thumbs over her nipples to elicit the moans coming from the woman pinned beneath him. Cuddy was kissing him with all she had, when suddenly behind her closed lids the man on top of her was not Seth, but her blued eyed, misanthropic diagnostician. His fingers left burning trails wherever they touched on her body and his kisses were soul searing. Oh God how she wished the man on top of her was House and not Seth, and that's when her eyes flew open and she pushed Seth away from her, breaking the kiss.

"I can't do this," she said quietly, not offering any other explanation.

He was about to ask what the problem was when her phone started ringing and she answered on the second ring, not wanting her light sleeper of a daughter to be woken up.

"Dr Cuddy," she answered as professionally as she could while she tried to get her breathing rate back to normal.

"Dr Cuddy, its Dr Cameron. Stacy Warner was just brought into the ER," Cuddy heard her ER doctor say but it took her a while to register and process the news.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Cuddy heard herself say as she started gathering the things she would need to take to the hospital.

And then as an afterthought she asked, "Has anyone called House yet?"

There was silence from the other end and Cuddy took it as a no.

Shit. She was going to have to do it. This was not going to be a fun week.

Little did she know…

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I hope all of you who read it liked it. leave a review on your way out.

Also I'm looking for a beta, if anyone is interested let me know please. Thanks.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**A/N:** I know it has been a long time since I updated but real life really kicked my ass. Anyway I hope you guys like this chapter, also I think I'm going to complete the entire fic first before I post the rest of it, because it kinda gets difficult to pick up from where I left off, so it might be a while. Just a few corrections and changes to the chapter...

* * *

Part 5

It was already Wednesday; four days had passed since he had received the call that night in the bar, and he had successfully managed to avoid Cameron and her new patient - Stacy He still could not remember how he managed to get himself and his bike home in one piece. He found himself lying in the centre of his bed, covered with a soft blanket, though still in the clothes he had on the night before. And as for the dark haired, dark eyed woman, he hadn't seen her either after that night, though he remembered just how hot she was.

House had done his share of clinic duty, or rather; House had made Forman do his clinic duty as a punishment for sticking his nose where it was not wanted and asking him questions about Cuddy and her new male friend. Also he had spent most of his time in the ER with Chase, where Cuddy was least likely to look for him and try to convince him to go and see Stacy. Yes he had the urge to go up to the wards and see her, but he knew what that would ultimately lead to and he was not ready to put himself through it all over again… Allowing himself to be hurt by the same woman twice in his lifetime was more than enough – thank you, and so he suppressed the urge and instead focused his attention on irritating the blonde surgeon instead, by asking him questions on his and Cameron's relationship.

Stacey had been brought in four days earlier on a gurney, with cuts and bruises adorning her arms and upper body. She had been one of the victims of a motor vehicle accident that had taken place earlier that day. She had been having a crappy day, her clients were missing and Stacey had been drinking before she decided to drive to Princeton Plainsboro to say hi to old fronds. She had gotten there, just not the entrance she was hoping to make. Her husband Mark had arrived as soon as he could after Cameron had called him and was now waiting as Stacey signed her release forms.

House was in his office gathering his stuff when he noticed his boss standing outside his glass door.

"House" he heard Cuddy calling him. "Stacey's been asking to see you."

"I know."

"You're not even going to say hi?" she asked him curiously as she stepped further into his office.

"No." he turned and stepped closer to her, his breath cascading down her neck, causing her skin to erupt with goosebumps.

"Why not?" Cuddy was surprised to hear his answer. Everyone thought Stacy was the love of his life, but now she wasn't so sure.

"Because," She was caught off guard though when she felt House's arm snake across her back and pulled her into him, her chest pressing against his warm one. His sapphire orbs were firmly pinned on her grey blue ones, and his mouth was dangerously close to hers. Her one hand automatically made its way to the back of his neck while the other inched up his side, under his shirt. Cuddy tilted her head slightly and she felt his lips graze her lips lightly. She took a shallow breath, arched and inched, and longed for the connection he was withholding from her.

"House," she whispered and his resolve broke.

He leaned down and caught her mouth with his, his lips wrapped around her upper lip as his hands tangled themselves in her hair and pulled her infinitely closer to him, She groaned low in the back of her throat and House took the chance and slipped his tongue into her mouth. He kissed her with all he had, with one thought racing through his mind; he'd never get another chance like this. Their kiss subsided into erotic nips and sucks and neither wanted it to end, but kissing in his office, made up of glass doors was a bad idea. House was the first to pull away.

"It never ends well," he replied, and suddenly she wasn't sure whether he was talking about Stacy or her.

"I should go," he said after a short silence and walked out of his office.

The slick roads were a nightmare to ride on, but House loved a challenge and he sped home as fast as his bike would have allowed him to. He made it to the front door and was a few steps away from his apartment door when he felt a hand land hard on his shoulder. House turned around only to come face to face with his ex-girlfriend's husband, Mark, whose fists were balled and he seemed ready to strike House at any minute.

"Is there a reason you followed me home?" House asked, his voice disapproving of Mark's actions.

"She asked to see you for five minutes and you couldn't even give her that," Mark replied, acid coating his voice.

"She was not my patient. I had no reason to see her, and no I don't owe her an explanation as to why. Whereas you might think her every action will determine my decisions, it doesn't, so if you came here to ask me to see her one last time, I'm afraid its not gonna happen," House replied indifferently and was about to turn around when he felt a white hot searing pain shoot through his right thigh. He slid down the door, and grabbed his leg in agony, but resisted the urge to pull out his Vicodin pill bottle and swallow three pills.

House was still tying to alleviate the stinging pain in his leg when he heard a door to one of the apartments on his floor swish open. A loud grunt followed and the next thing House was aware of was Mark's chest pressed up against the wall, his breaths coming in short pants, one of his hands hanging down at his side, the other twisted at the back and someone's forearm looped around his throat, constricting his trachea somewhat. Then he heard the one voice he actually didn't expect to hear… ever. She had caught them both completely off guard and for once House was actually grateful for an interruption.

"Come within fifty feet of this man again and this will be nothing compared to what will happen to you if you do," the smooth voice said. It was level and charming and even though it was a threat, it didn't sound like one at all. There was a hint of superiority in it as well as the promise of pain that would follow if Mark didn't heed her advice, and House was sure she wouldn't have minded if Mark had provoked her and she'd gotten the chance to beat him up.

"Now I suggest you take your puny little ass and get the hell outta here before I change my mind and really work you over," she said and let go of Mark before pushing him toward the exit and out the foyer of the building.

Mark mumbled something undecipherable to her but House understood the words lawyer and manhandling charges and grinned to himself. Like the girl from the bar would let a minor thing like manhandling charges stop her from doing what she was doing. House looked up to see the girl from the bar looking down at him, the concern showing on her face.

"You don't look too hot, stud," she said by way of greeting and the only response House could give was a glare in her direction.

"Stay right there and I'll be back with something to help," she informed him before disappearing into her apartment and then reappearing two minutes later with an ice pack in her hand, no doubt to help ease the pain in his thigh. She placed it carefully on his jeans, knowing it would take a bit of a while for the cold to seep through the thick denim material and reach his skin, and flesh. House hated this, he hated her seeing him like this, but damn his thigh hurt and the ice pack was helping.

"This is just a temporary solution, got any other ideas, genius?" she asked when she saw the ice pack was not helping as much now as it was five minutes ago.

"A bath with hot water and a full body massage," he replied and waggled his eyebrows. She smiled at him, knowing the effort it would have taken for him just to tell her what he needed.

Ten agonising minutes later, with the help of 'bar woman' House found himself in his bathroom, the steam rising from the tub filled with hot water. He had no idea just how he was going to get into the tub without putting pressure on his right leg, but the pain in his leg showed no signs of subsiding anytime soon and so he was left with no choice but to struggle into the tub. He had discarded his jeans a while ago, the material rubbing harshly against his already hurting leg. She entered the bathroom after a few minutes of silence, and frowned when she saw the lanky man lost deep in thought.

"Well the pain isn't going to disappear on its own, stud. Come on I'll give you a hand," she said, while taking a hold of his waist and helping hobble slowly toward the tub. She placed his arm over her shoulder and helped in into the tub, easing him gently into a sitting position in the small bathtub. She didn't say anything when she saw his missing thigh muscle and could only guess how much pain he really was in.

She stepped away from him, to give him some privacy, "I'll be right outside if you need me," she informed him.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" he asked while he rubbed his leg tenderly, the warm water already soothing it a little.

"Do I need a reason to be nice?" she answered with a question of her own.

"Usually people are only nice when they want something in return. I don't think I have anything you need, or want, so gives with being nice?"

"I figured you'd be sitting there on the floor until either your brown haired somewhat good looking friend, or the dark haired blue eyed woman you usually have shouting matches with came by and helped you up, I wanted to see what it felt like to be a good Samaritan felt like. Who was the jerk that kneed you in the thigh?"

House was silent for a while and she thought he was not going to answer when she heard his voice carry softly through the room.

"He's an ex girlfriend's husband."

"Sounds like she still has a soft spot for you."

"Yeah, well I am Greg House," he said drolly, and she heard the smirk in his voice, "I'm irresistible to women."

"And cocky, as well as swollen-headed, it's a wonder how you have space for anything else in your head," she chuckled.

His leg was feeling better now and the pain had now turned into a dull throb, which he could handle for a while. He stepped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around his waist before making his way to his bedroom to change into a set of clean dry clothes. House emerged a few minutes later, cane gripped tightly in his right hand, limped to the piano and took a seat on the wooden bench.

"Well now that you know my name, it would be nice to know yours, not that I care or anything although telling everyone that some hot super hero chic came and saved my ass does sound more appealing," he said, his expression showing his thoughts were running at a mile a minute.

"Maya Tyler, and now that you're okay I think I'm going to leave," she stood up from the couch and made her way to his front door. "Try not to attract any more trouble, because I might not be there save you the next time," she quipped as she closed the door behind her, disappearing from his sight.

House sighed tiredly, but turned and began to play his piano, the dull throbbing in his leg starting up again. It was going to be a long pain filled night.

Little did he know…

0 o 0 o 0 o 0

Cuddy rubbed her temples softly; trying to avert the headache she knew would be coming soon. She had managed to keep her contact with her Head of Diagnostics Department to a minimum for the last four days, but late that morning Mark had come to her office asking her to convince House to visit Stacy before she checked out later that day, and Cuddy being the helpful little fairy she was, couldn't say no to him, even though she knew House was not interested in seeing his ex-girlfriend, seeing as had spent the entire four days avoiding her.

She had gone there to ask him, on Mark's behalf, to go and see Stacy, but House diverted her attention so completely from the subject that she had no chance to even try and persuade him to do so. She had no idea that he was going to kiss her, but she, on her part had not stopped him from doing what he had, if anything she had merely encouraged the situation by moaning his name softly into his ear and totally undoing his resolve. After her disastrous attempt almost a week ago with Seth, she was actually happy that House had kissed her before she and Seth tried anything again.

There was a soft knock on her door and she looked up to see her new assistant waiting for her permission to enter. Cuddy nodded her head in ascent and the young woman walked toward her boss's desk.

"Someone named Seth called for you. He left a message and said I should give it to you as soon as possible, but when I saw you and Dr House in his office I thought it wasn't as important as I made it out to be," she informed Cuddy and handed her boss the bright green post it she had taken Seth's message down on. A slight blush coloured Cuddy's cheeks which her assistant didn't miss. She didn't say anything to her boss but the wink she'd thrown Cuddy's way as the young woman exited Cuddy's office made Cuddy aware of just what her new employee had witnessed.

Cuddy read the message Seth had left, and frowned in confusion. He could not have been serious could he? Well considering how badly their night had gone a while ago, maybe this four day weekend was a blessing in disguise, though she had to find a sitter for Rachel on short notice. As if the powers that be were listening intently to her thoughts, James Wilson walked into her office, his face showing no expression at all.

"Wilson, I was about to come and see you. I need you ask you for a huge favour."

James Wilson smiled at his boss as he already knew he was going to say yes to whatever it is she wanted him to do. Saying no to Lisa Cuddy Dean of Medicine and one of his closest friends was just not something Wilson could do.

"Sure Cuddy, just tell me what you need," he smiled sweetly at her.

"I need you to watch Rachel for me for a few days, if its okay with Amber" she said nervously. "Starting from tonight," she continued quickly but not meeting his gaze. "I know four days is a long time, but I feel like I need this break and taking Rachel with me for a weekend away isn't one of the brightest ideas. And besides, I think she's old enough to stay without me for a few days."

She finally took the risk and looked up, only to see Wilson beaming at her, his lips set in a goofy grin and his eyes sparkling with mischief.

"A weekend away?" he asked suddenly very interested in what she doing and where she was going. "That sounds interesting…" he said softly, more to himself than Cuddy.

"Sure, I'll watch her, what time should I pick her up?" he asked.

They settled on a time for Wilson to pick Rachel up later and gathered up her things before heading home to get her daughter ready for her long weekend with Uncle Wilson and Aunt Amber. Rachel was still up and watching cartoons when Cuddy walked into her home. Her daughter was cuddled into the arm of the three seater sofa, her Donald Duck blanket wrapped round her tiny body and her eyes glued to the screen. Seth was lounging lazily on the one seater watching Rachel as she watched TV, and this somehow caught Cuddy's attention, but she didn't say anything, she simply filed the information away for later use.

She stepped into the room and deposited her bag and papers onto the table before she made her way to the couch where her daughter was laying and took a seat. She offered Seth a warm smile and reached out to touch Rachel's cheek, rubbing the pad of her thumb gently across the warm soft flesh.

"Hey sweetheart," she greeted Rachel softly and the little girl gave her a sweet smile in return.

"Did you have a nice day?" she asked and Rachel nodded her head, her eyes not leaving the TV screen.

"Rachel mommy needs to talk to you for a bit, do you think we could put the TV off for a few minutes?"

"Okay," the five year old responded and turned her attention from the television to her mother.

"Rachel honey, you're going to spend the next few days with Uncle Wilson and Aunt Amber because I'm going away for a while," she said.

"Where are you going?"

I have to go away for work for a few days, I'll be back by Sunday night, its only for four days" Cuddy said and Rachel looked relieved.

"Okay," Rachel knew there was very little that would keep her mother away from work, her being the exception.

"We should go and pack some clothes for you, Uncle James will be here to pick you up soon," Cuddy informed her smiling daughter. She felt guilty for lying to her, but how was she supposed to explain a 'romantic weekend away' to a five year old. Rachel bounded excitedly to her room to take out what she wanted to take with her to Uncle Wilson leaving Cuddy and Seth in the living room.

"She took that better than I thought she would," Seth said as he took a seat next to Cuddy.

"She likes spending time with Wilson, Amber not so much, but she'll come around," Cuddy replied.

"And how did Wilson and House take the news?" he asked knowing the diagnostician would have brought the house down upon hearing the news that Cuddy was going away with him for the weekend. Granted Seth didn't know much about House, but he didn't miss the look House had thrown his way the night they had met. There was something he had missed.

"Wilson was happy, House doesn't know just yet," she replied and suddenly she was bombarded with memories of him kissing the life out of her, or better yet, into her earlier that day. A light blush coloured her cheeks and suddenly she was very uncomfortable with the whole idea of going away with Seth.

"I'm going to pack Rachel's stuff," she stood up and made her way to the five year olds room.

A short while later there was a knock on the front door; Wilson was here to pick Rachel up. Rachel was ready and waiting, her favourite blanket wrapped around her, and her backpack full of her toys. Wilson walked into the front room and came face to face with Seth.

"Hi I'm James Wilson, and you must be Seth," Wilson held out his hand toward the blue eyed man.

"It's nice to finally put a face to the name," Seth shook Wilson's hand and gave him a dimpled smile.

"Uncle James are we going to stay here all night?" Rachel asked Wilson and the doctor smiled down at her.

"No we aren't," he scooped her up and spun her around stopping only when Cuddy came back into the room.

"We're gonna head out now, you have a nice time and don't worry about her she'll be fine," Wilson informed Cuddy as he placed Rachel in her car seat, her bags into the trunk and headed off into the night.

Cuddy walked into her house after saying bye to her daughter, the worry of whether she'd be okay with her mother for four days already settling in her mind. Seth was standing against the wall, and as soon as she entered he caught her in an embrace, his arms looping behind her and settling on her lower back.

"We have a few minutes to ourselves," Seth's voice was a whisper, his fingertips tracing light patterns on the skin of her lower back. He leaned in toward her and kissed her gently. Cuddy's eyes closed instinctively and she let herself get caught up in his kiss, until the image of the clean shaven, neat haired man in her mind was replaced with one of unkempt, scruffy bearded blue eyed doctor. She pulled away immediately, and released herself from his grasp "I should get ready or we'll never leave," she informed him.

Wilson was still on his way home when Cameron called his cell phone and told him he needed to head back to the hospital. One of his patients had come into the emergency room looking for the oncologist. The man hadn't been feeling well and when his heart had began to race a few hours ago, he decided it was time to go to see his doctor. Wilson was thrown off balance for a moment, he couldn't take Rachel to the hospital because he didn't know how long he was going to be and he couldn't drop her off at his apartment because Amber was working. There was only one place he could think of.

Ten minutes later Wilson was standing outside apartment 11B with Rachel holding one his hand and all the stuff being held in the other. He knocked on the wooden door three times and waited for an answer. There was music coming through the closed door and Wilson doubted his friend had even heard him, so he knocked again but this time he was granted with an "I'm coming" before the door swung open revealing the diagnostician, his hair sticking up on end, his eyes red with exhaustion, and his face set in a scowl.

"And what exactly did I do to deserve this visit?" he asked grumpily, before his gaze travelled down to Wilson's hands. His scowl intensified tenfold, and before Wilson could answer, another question rolled out of House's mouth.

"Why is there a sprog standing outside my door, no more importantly why is Cuddy's spawn standing outside my door looking like she's here to spend the night?" House's disapproval was evident in his voice.

"It's just for a little while House, I need to go to the hospital to check on a patient and as soon as I'm done I'll be back to pick her up," Wilson said desperately.

"Its a week night, is the spawn allowed to be out on a week night, and where is the she devil if the spawn is here?" House's mind was already racing with possibilities.

"Cuddy and Seth are going away for a while, and she asked me to watch Rachel till she gets back," Wilson said, knowing House would have pestered him until he answered all the questions.

Wilson saw the flash of hurt in his friend's sapphire eyes, but it lasted only a second, and was lost again as House opened his door wider, allowing Wilson and Rachel to enter his apartment. Wilson explained to Rachel that he would be back as soon as he could to get her, but for now she could bother Uncle House as much as she wanted. Rachel simply smiled at the blue eyed man, and nodded at Wilson as she got up onto the sofa and changed the channel to Disney TV and settled down to watch the cartoon that was currently playing.

Satisfied that she was okay Wilson left after promising House he would be back to pick Rachel up as soon as was possible.

"Uncle House, would you come and sit next to me?" he heard the tiny voice and for some reason House just did not have the heart to say no, so he found himself watching Mickey Mouse build a bird house with the help of his friends.

Little did he know that with this one action… his entire life was about to change…

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Read and review please... Adding me or the story to your alerts or favourites is nice but reviews give me that warm fuzzy feeling....

also suggestions as to what you guys think should happen will be appreciated, as it helps with the writers block. Tell me if I should continue or not. Also to those who didn't like having Stacy neither did I but I needed a reason for Mark to appear.

Thanks for reading guys and have a nice weekend


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter 1

**A/N:** I decided to post this as soon as it was ready simply because the plot bunnies are hard at work and I don't want to get caught with writer's block on this fic. It has been read over a few times and errors have been corrected, but alas I am human and I may have missed out on some of them. Point them out to me and I will get them fixed as soon as I can. Hope you guys enjoy this one.

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Part VI

House woke up to the throbbing in his leg, the parched feeling in his throat and most importantly the deafening scream coming from beside him. His eyes adjusted to the light and he found himself slouched on the sofa, the TV still on and blaring and Rachel screaming blue murder next to him. The red numbers on the digital clock alerted him it was just after one that morning and Rachel was showing no signs of calming down anytime soon. He didn't even realise he had fallen asleep. He looked over at her, and saw her red eyes, her tear streaked face, her small, delicate hands clutching onto her blanket as tightly as she could and her tiny chest heaving heavily with every breath she took. And then it hit him, she was in a strange apartment and her mom was not around to comfort her. He took out his cell phone and dialled Cuddy's number, his mind already made up that she should come and get her damn spawn, to hell with her weekend away.

House was greeted with the sound of Cuddy's voicemail; he was clearly not going to get a hold of her tonight. Then he tried the next best or better, only person he knew would come and get the crying kid out of his apartment. Wilson answered on the fifth ring, sounding exhausted and worried now that he heard Rachel's piercing sobs.

"House, I'm still stuck in the ER; you're going to have to find a way to calm her down." Wilson said as another of Rachel's sobs attempted to puncture his eardrums.

"No shit Sherlock," House replied through gritted teeth,

"It really is not that difficult, rub her back softly, or pick her up and walk around with her," Wilson offered advice, which House merely ignored. He was bad at socialising with people who could actually hold a conversation, how the heck was he supposed to soothe a crying kid?

"Yeah since I have two completely unhurt feet, and I don't use a cane. No thanks for the help Wilson," he said after a long while and hung up the phone while his friend was still saying something.

He turned to look at Rachel once more, his heart clenching at the look on her face and the rapid rise and fall of her chest.

"Hey kid," he said softly to her, which stopped the crying for a minute. She looked at him questioningly, her eyes wide with fear, her bottom lip trembling for a minute, after which she started crying again.

A few long minutes later there was a knock on his door and the hope that it was Wilson or even Amber to pick up the wailing kid bubbled in his chest. He shuffled to the door, his pants slightly too long for him and therefore dragging on the wooden flooring, because he had insisted on buying extra length pyjamas when he clearly did not need it. He opened the door, and his relieved expression was quickly replaced with one of utter confusion. It was not Wilson or even Amber… it was Maya, standing outside his door, her face showing signs of annoyance and exhaustion but no anger, and this surprised him though he didn't say anything.

"Do you mind turning the volume down, some of us like the few hours of sleep we can actually get when you're not making noise at odd times of the night," she said, her voice tinged with a hint of irritation.

"Its not the TV," he replied, "it's the live version," he continued and then pushed his door wider allowing her a view of his living room with Rachel standing near the coffee table, blanket on the floor and screaming her tiny lungs out while the tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Maya walked into the room and came to a stop two feet away from the little girl.

"Hi," she greeted Rachel softly and just as before Rachel calmed down with the sound of a voice, though she looked warily from House to the woman and back to House. When House made no attempt to kick her out of the apartment or showed any signs that he did not know the woman, Rachel calmed down a bit more. It showed he trusted her, somewhat.

"And who are you?" Maya continued when Rachel was silent for a few minutes. She took a step forward, bringing her in line with the sofa Rachel had been sitting on fifteen minutes ago. She slowly sat down on the sofa, keeping eye contact with the little girl hoping that she wouldn't start crying again. Rachel watched Maya's every movement with curious brown eyes, though she stood rooted to her spot.

Maya held out one hand, palm facing up, to the little girl, "My name is Maya, what's your name?" she asked her voice soft and friendly.

"Rachel Cuddy," Rachel said before a hiccup escaped her mouth. The young woman held out her other hand in Rachel's direction, her arms an open invitation for the little girl to come up to her.

"Rachel, that's a really nice name," Maya continued to talk in soft tones to Rachel, calming her down and slowing down her racing heart with every passing minute.

"Did you have a bad dream?" she asked and Rachel shook her head. "Then why were you crying so loudly?" Rachel looked around the apartment, then her clothes and finally her eyes settled on House, but Maya didn't understand what she was trying to tell her.

After a few minutes Rachel spoke her first words in what seemed like hours to House, "I want my mommy," she whispered and her bottom lip began to tremble again. Maya turned to look at House the question apparent in her eyes.

"Where is your mommy?" the question was phrased to both House and Rachel but Rachel was the first to answer.

"Working." If she was thrown by the short answer Rachel had given her, Maya didn't show it and neither did she say anything about it. She would ask Greg about it after the little girl was fast asleep. She took a closer look at Rachel and that was when she noticed Rachel was still fully dressed and not in a pair of comfortable, familiar clothes, something that would make her feel like everything was going to be okay.

"Greg, where are her clothes?" Maya asked the lanky man who had been watching the scene unfold before his eyes, completely entranced by Maya's ability to calm a crying kid in less than two minutes. He was surprised when he heard his first name being called, but then again the only people who actually called him Greg were his mother and Stacy. Cuddy had stopped calling him that after the infarction and the removal of his thigh muscle, and so House was the name everyone had been accustomed to calling him.

He pointed his cane in the direction of the two bags lying against the wall next to the book case and Maya stood to retrieve it. She settled herself back on the sofa once she had extracted a warm pair of blue pyjamas with a picture of Princess Belle on the top for the little girl. Rachel smiled at the choice of clothing but was still standing in the exact spot she had been standing on since Maya arrived. Maya held out the set of pyjamas to Rachel, but Rachel merely stared at her, not moving an inch.

"Do you need help with changing your clothes?" she asked and Rachel nodded her head, her brown curls bouncing with the movement.

"Well Stud, it looks like you have your work cut out for you," she turned to look at House once more, her lip turned up into a smirk and her eyes twinkling with mirth.

"She's five, she's old enough to manage on her own, can't you kid?" came his grumpy reply, though he hauled himself off the piano bench and walked over to where she was seated. He'd seen Wilson do this countless times, he made it look so damn easy but House knew better, and it didn't stop Rachel from looking expectantly at him. He grudgingly accepted the set of pyjamas from Maya and proceeded to help Rachel put on her sleep attire, and somehow House had to stop himself from smiling to himself. Damn the little sprog actually looked cute in her Disney Princess pyjamas.

Ten minutes later Rachel had been changed, brushed her teeth and was sitting on the couch between House and Maya watching TV, covered with her favourite blanket, leaning her head on House's arm and one small hand gripping his shirt sleeve tightly. House was not as uncomfortable as he thought he would be but he was not going to break the façade that he did not like Cuddy's little sprog at all. He shifted his arm a bit hoping the child would take the hint but she merely held on tighter and snuggled closer into him. He sighed tiredly, the only thought running through his mind that she should fall asleep very soon.

A quarter hour into the movie that House wasn't really paying attention to, he unconsciously began to rub his thigh, as his mind started registering the returning pain from the incident that afternoon. Rachel was still leaning against him, her eyes droopy and her breathing slowly deepening but evening out, yet fighting her sleep with all the strength she could muster. He smiled softly in spite of himself and thinking she was exactly like her mother, when he looked down at her small figure clutching on to him tightly, and he found that he just didn't have the heart to move her away from him.

Maya watched him silently, taking in every action or reaction he gave off from interacting with the little girl and despite what he said, she knew he had a soft spot for the kid whether he wanted to or not. She saw his situation and was considering leaving him to think about how he was going to move Rachel and soothe his aching thigh when she decided he had suffered enough for the day and went to his rescue. She carefully pulled Rachel toward her, speaking in soft tones so Rachel wouldn't wake up and placed her on her lap, while House reached for his Vicodin bottle, dry swallowed two pills and waited for it to take effect and somewhat help ease the pain in his leg.

"You look like you've been through a war zone, maybe you should lie down for a bit, the coffee table doesn't provide as much support as a bed does," Maya suggested to him.

"Is that an offer?" he asked with suggestively raised eyebrows. He couldn't help that one, he was so used to bantering with Cuddy and turning everything she said into some sexual remark that this one slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

"Not for tonight," came her smooth reply, followed by a risqué smile that for some reason sent his mind racing with possibilities of just how this night could end, one of them being that he could wake up with a woman in his bed in the morning and not have had to pay her for her services. Okay so maybe this was shaping up to be a better night than he anticipate almost six hours ago when Wilson had dropped Rachel off.

"Some other time then?"

"If you behave tonight and answer my questions truthfully you might just get yourself laid."

"Where's the kid's mother anyway?" she asked.

"Long weekend away with Mr Perfect," the disapproval apparent in his voice.

"Sounds like you didn't want her to go."

"Yeah well, you cant always get what you want," and with that statement she knew exactly what his problem was.

"Come on we should get you to bed," she said as she stood up, trying not to awaken the sleeping child in her arms and keep her balance at the same time.

"Wow didn't think you'd give in so quickly, but how are you going to manage with a child?"

"Your right hand works perfectly well, you can get yourself off for tonight," she shot back as she walked into his bedroom and placed the sleeping child on the side she assumed he didn't sleep on and covered her with the duvet. He entered the room a few minutes later and laid down on his bed, rubbing his thigh vigorously. He watched as she placed a kiss on the sleeping child's forehead and wished her sweet dreams.

"Good night Greg," she greeted him and was almost out the door when he called he back into his bedroom.

"Don't I get a kiss and a wish for sweet dreams?" he asked her. Maya simply rolled her eyes but walked over to his side of the bed, bent down to kiss him on the cheek and wished him sweet dreams as well as informed him that he would now only see her once the sun was shining brightly at midday. As she attempted to leave for the second time that night, he caught her wrist, causing her to turn to face him and then he said two words that neither of them expected him to say…

0 o 0 o 0 o 0

It was almost midnight when Seth finally pulled up in front of huge iron gates. Seth punched in the code on the number keypad and waited as the gates swung open and allowed them entryway into the expansive gated estate. The drive to the house was uneventful, though quiet and peaceful and Cuddy was sure she was going to fall asleep before Seth would stop the car and announce that they had finally reached their destination. She was happy at the thought of actually taking time off work and spending it with Seth, whom she felt had been given the short end of the stick for a while, but deep in the corner of her mind she couldn't stop the thoughts of House and what his reaction would be when he heard that she had gone off with Seth and left her little bugger behind.

She was still lost deep in thought that she didn't realise Seth had parked and switched off the engine and was getting out of the car already. She followed his lead and waited at the trunk of the car to help him offload the luggage. There wasn't much seeing as it was an impromptu trip and she had barely managed to pack the basic stuff into two small duffel bags, but it was something to do, something that would keep her mind off from running into House territory as it seemed to do so often these past few weeks. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion when she heard Seth calling to her to forget about the bags and come up to where he was standing at what seemed the edge of a balcony. She made her way to him and stopped a foot behind him her gaze fixed on what he was looking at. Out below them was the city, its bright lights twinkling in the distance, all of it so tiny it looked like it could have been part of another world altogether.

A chilly wind started up and before she knew it her hair was flying softly in all directions, and her skin was covered in goosebumps. It was then that she felt Seth's arm curl around her waist and pulled her closer into him, and she shivered at the warmth his body gave off.

"It's almost like we're in another world," she whispered, not wanting to break the spell that had been cast over them. "It's beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as the woman standing in my arms." His breath tickled her ear and she felt the rumble of his chest against as he spoke to her in soft tones to her. She felt her hands get cold and her tummy was somersaulting with nervousness. She hadn't felt like this in years, not since she was a teenager with her first real kiss in med school. Another shiver zinged up her spine at the thought but this time Seth felt it, and he suggested they go inside before she caught a cold and they had to spend an entire weekend with him nursing her back to health, though it did sound like a fun idea to him.

Seth guided Cuddy past the huge main house toward the small building in the far corner of the vast plot. Seth's eyes were shining with excitement and Cuddy's heart started racing in her chest. He suddenly stopped at the front door of the small building and turned to face Cuddy, an embarrassed smile gracing his good looking boyish features, and a slight tremor in his voice as he began to speak to her.

"There are very few people who have actually seen the inside of this place," he said as he pulled a set of keys out of his trouser pocket.

"It's so huge, how can people miss it?" she asked wondering if he just wanted see her reaction or if he was being serious. "I mean it's not like you can walk right past it and not admire the sheer size of your house," she laughed.

Seth suddenly looked nervous again and was quiet for a few seconds. "I meant the one we're standing at Lisa," and her confusion simply grew.

"That one," he pointed at the mansion they had just passed, "belongs to me but I don't live there, my parents use it as their holiday home in the summer. I do have a room in there, however. This one," and he pointed to the door they were standing at, "is mine since I needed a bit of quiet from my siblings when I was studying or I needed a time out," he explained to her. "I can count the number of people on one hand that have seen the inside of this home, and that includes you in a few minutes." he finished softly and Cuddy was surprised at just how fragile he was at the moment.

He fed the key into the keyhole and turned it until he heard it unlock, opened the door and waited for Cuddy to enter before closing the door gently behind him. He switched the light on and the room brightened up, Cuddy's eyes took a few minutes to adjust to the new lighting and when she recovered what she saw surprised her. The house was anything but small, it consisted of three bedrooms, one of which had been converted into an office, two bathrooms an average sized kitchen equipped with all the gadgets and appliances she had ever seen, and a giant living room complete with a set of black Lazy Boy sofas.

"You're cold, why don't you take a shower while I get the bags from the car and then I will heat up some food. I don't remember having supper today," he came up behind her, his chest coming into contact with her back, his breath cascading down her neck. She would have preferred doing other things to heat herself up, but Seth was right and there was nothing less appealing then getting into bed without having a shower.

"I think that is a good idea," she agreed and slowly walked toward the en-suite in what looked like the master bedroom.

If she was going to do this, then it was either go big or go home, and she decided she wanted to go big. Three layers of clothing fell to the floor, landing on the cold tiles in a heap as she turned the water on and waited for it to heat up. Soon enough there was steam arising from the glass cubicle and Cuddy stepped into the warm spray, allowing it to wash away the stress and fatigue from her body. She lathered herself with the fresh smelling, though very creamy shower gel, and then waited as it was rinsed away with the warm water. She watched as the bubbles disappeared down the drain, her mind clearing with every passing minute. The water was still running when she heard the door being pushed open and the sound of her bag being dropped onto the floor.

The delicious aroma of food streamed up her nose as she exited the bathroom fifteen minutes later, in a pair of too long track pants and an oversized but short sleeved T-shirt all covered by a gown that reached her ankles.

"Hey you," Seth greeted her when she finally made her way to the kitchen. The table was set for what looked like a romantic dinner for two, with two candles providing the lighting, and two medium sized portions of pasta, vegetables and a tomato and green pepper sauce topped with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.

"I hope you like pasta," said uncertainly, "because that's the only thing I could heat up on such short notice. Well that and you're still a vegetarian made it slightly harder than usual.

"Pasta is fine," she sat down at the table and waited for him to take a seat. Dinner was a quiet affair, with neither of them saying much simply because they were too hungry to talk. Cuddy helped clear the table and rinsed the dishes before Seth placed them in the dishwasher to be washed later.

"Its two plates and a casserole dish, Seth, it will take five minutes to wash," she argued but Seth was hearing none of it. He guided her to the living room and sat her down on the couch before disappearing into the kitchen for a short while only to reappear with two dishes in his hand.

"Dessert is served," he took a seat next to her and opened both dishes, watching her face for her reaction and he was not disappointed. The smile that graced her features along with the sparkle in her eyes was enough for him. She picked out the small red fleshy fruit from the dish and dipped it into the cream filled one before popping it into her mouth. She loved cherries, although they were difficult to find at this time of the year, since it was a summer fruit, but he had some imported just for her. It was the one thing he knew hadn't changed with her in these past eighteen years.

He copied her actions and placed the cream covered cherry in his mouth, savouring the sweet taste both the cherry and fresh cream left in his mouth. And then like the teenage he felt, he covered a red bulb entirely with cream and offered it to her, which she accepted as gracefully as possible, although a small speck of cream remained on the corner of her mouth. He wiped the tiny spot of cream off and then ran his thumb over her bottom lip.

Cuddy looked up at him, only to find his gaze pinned on hers, his eyes turned a darker shade of blue, and his face inching ever so slowly closer to hers. Cuddy felt her heart rate increase and she leaned into the touch of his hand on her face. She removed the two bowls from his grasp and placed them on the coffee table, her gaze never leaving his. With both his hands now free, Seth raised them to cup her cheeks, and edged forward slowly, giving her the choice of pulling away if this was not what she wanted. She didn't and he tilted her face slightly upward, pressed a soft kiss on the tip of her nose before kissing her gently on the mouth. She reciprocated by trapping his bottom lip between hers and pulling lightly on it.

He swiped his tongue over her bottom lip causing her to groan low in the back of her throat and he felt his heart skip a beat or three. He kissed her gently for a few more minutes, and then deepened it when he felt her hands pulling his face closer to hers. She opened her mouth and he slipped his tongue inside, probing, tasting, trying to remember if she tasted and felt like this all those years ago. His one arm snaked around her neck while the other planted itself firmly on her back as he brought his chest to hers and pushed her down onto the couch so that he was laying on top of her, without breaking their kiss.

They were kissing fervidly when suddenly Seth found himself lying on the carpeted floor, and Cuddy's body draped along his, a look of utter shock on her face. Clearly he had misjudged the size of the sofa and it had resulted in his crashing to the ground and pulling Cuddy with him. When she realised what had happened she was giggling, but she stood up and held out a hand for Seth who gratefully accepted it and sat up.

"Maybe we should take this to the bedroom," he was not fazed or embarrassed by what happened and he wanted to continue where this was going.

"Maybe we should," she replied suggestively.

Seth stood up and linked his hand with hers, intertwining his fingers with hers and led her to his bedroom. She didn't get a chance to see anything except a photograph of the two of them from a long time ago. She fused her mouth to his as soon as his back hit the mattress, her hands roaming the expanse of his muscular chest through his T-shirt.

"You have too many clothes on," came his voice through the kisses.

"Then you should do something about them."

Her robe was easily dispensed with, as was her extra long pants. His hands travelled up her T-shirt, his fingers lighting her skin on fire wherever they trailed. In one swift motion he had flipped them over and now his body was covering every inch of hers, His hands found hers and he pinned them with his above he head so that she was unable to touch him anywhere. He repositioned his body to hers so that her hips were aligned with hers and she could feel every move he made. He kissed the column of her neck, down to her clavicles, the hollow of her throat and he ground his hips into hers at the same time.

"I didn't know you're a fan of the Walking Man,"' came Seth's muffled voice from somewhere below her chest.

"I'm not,"

"Your T-shirt indicates something different." He kissed her hip bone lightly blowing softly where her flesh was still moist, causing it to prickle.

"That is because, its not really my T-shirt it belongs to H…" but she stopped herself before she could finish the sentence, and suddenly she was very aware of what she was about to do. She was trying to replace him with another man and no matter how hard she tried, it simply didn't work.

"Seth," her tone caught his attention and he immediately stopped what he was doing. "I can't do this, not right now," she informed him .

"Was it something I did?"

"No, I just need a bit more time," her voice decreased with every word. He rolled off her but remained at her side on the bed. "I'm sorry," and he knew she meant every word, he could hear the hurt in her voice.

"It's okay Lisa, I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you. Take all the time you need okay," she nodded.

"Is it okay if I sleep here with you tonight? Its too cold to sleep in the other room, and I promise no funny business." Apart from the one disastrous evening that occurred a while ago, Seth and Cuddy had never shared a bed; Seth had slept in the guest bedroom, his reason being that he didn't want Rachel to walk in on something and he didn't want her to feel like Cuddy was replacing him with Rachel.

"I think the bed is big enough for both of us." She grinned at him.

He placed an arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

"Good night Lisa"

But Cuddy's mind was too distracted with thoughts of a certain misanthropic, stubborn, cynical, crippled, extremely attractive, blue eyed diagnostician who was miles away from her, to say good night to her bed companion.

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Leave a review on your way out, even if you think this chapter sucks... I'm okay with it. Feedback is alway appreciated because it helps improve the writing.

Also I need someone to clarify that Cuddy is vegetarian or is that just in my head?

Thanks for reading...


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**A/N:** I had a lot of trouble writing this one simply because the character Seth is portrayed as is very different to the one I had in mind, so I am going to try and get him back on track. House might also be a bit out of character, but that is because I think interacting with kids allows him to be that way. Hope you guys enjoy… All mistakes belong to me...

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Part 7

Cuddy was up at the crack of dawn on Friday morning, or well what was supposed to be the crack of dawn, but because of the cold, snowy, cloudy weather, the sun was still not out yet. She looked at the watch on the bed stand; it was half past five in the morning and now that she was awake, she needed something to do. She considered working on the proposition for the new neo natal ward that she wanted to set up, but changed her mind when she remembered that she had not brought all the paperwork needed for that specific proposal. There was nothing else that needed her immediate attention, and she sighed in frustration. How the hell was she supposed to spend four days away from her hospital or her daughter Rachel? She was going to go insane.

She attempted to get up from the bed but found that Seth's arm was draped lazily across her abdomen, and his face was nuzzled in the curve between her neck and shoulder. Cuddy gently lifted his arm from her body and crawled out of the bed, before she placed it back on the empty space, and made her way to bathroom to freshen up. She spotted her running shoes poking out of the zipper of her shoe bag and suddenly she knew what it would take to clear her head. She rummaged through both her bags until she found her thermal vest and leggings and her track suit, put them on and quietly exited the house after grabbing her IPod and earphones.

The sound of her thudding feet hitting the asphalt in rhythm with her heart was soothing to her ears and Cuddy couldn't help but smile at the feeling it gave her. She breathed in the cold air, allowing it to assault her nasal canal, somewhat clear her frontal sinuses and to finally settle in her lungs. She felt freer than she had in weeks, like the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders. She ran for almost an hour and a half, not worried about getting lost, since it was a gated community and there seemed to be only five houses in the entire complex, though there were many jogging and biking paths for runners and cyclists alike. The blood pounded in her ears in synch with the music focused her mind on nothing but being back at home with Rachel in a few days. While she had looked forward to a little time away from everything she soon found that there were some things or people she just couldn't do without and Rachel topped that list. She was the centre of Cuddy's life.

When she got back to Seth's little guest house two hours later, her body aching and sweaty but her mind clear and calm, he was already up and awaiting her arrival. The coffee was already brewing in the coffee machine and he had set out a few plates, one filled with fruit one with piping hot pancakes, and one with finger sandwiches all ready to be eaten. The smell of food reminded her just how hungry she was, so she made a quick trip to the bathroom to freshen up and then settled herself in the chair opposite Seth, who was already seated at the breakfast table.

"Did you make all this yourself?" she asked between bites,

"Well, when you live alone, you kinda need to learn how to fend for yourself," he shrugged shyly.

"Yeah, it's a jungle out there, who knows when you might your next meal," Cuddy smiled at him.

They finished the rest of their breakfast in relative silence, the only noise coming from the whirring of the refrigerator motor. After Cuddy had showered and freshened up Seth suggested they visited the shopping centre near his home. Most of the day passed in a blur of grocery and window shopping and two new pairs of thermal clothing for Cuddy. They shared a quiet and easy dinner at one of the more intimate restaurants which was owned by one of Seth's close friends and Cuddy got the feeling they were extremely impressed by the fact that Seth had actually brought a woman out for dinner. By the time they reached home, Cuddy was frozen to the bone, her teeth were chattering, Seth it seemed was quite used to the cold and wasn't affected by it as much as she was.

A long hot shower later, Cuddy was warmly dressed in a pair of track pants and a warm fleece sweater, her cheeks, lips and the tip of her nose pink with warmth. Her hair was frizzy from the steam that had engulfed the shower cubicle as she allowed the hot water to roll down her chilled body. Despite her early morning reservations about the whole situation she seemed so embroiled in, Cuddy found that spending the entire day out with Seth was not as awkward as she thought it would have been, after their second disastrous night together. There were, nevertheless, still two entire days left and she wasn't actually quite sure what to expect.

Seth was sitting in the lounge watching a series she somewhat recognised. His stance was relaxed and it looked like he was completely immersed in the plot. He surprised her, however, when he called out to her, but didn't even have to turn around to make sure she was standing in the doorway, contemplating on whether she should join him or call it an early night. She sat down next to him on the couch and pulled up the part of the blanket he was not using to cover herself, pulling it up just past her chin.

"What are we watching?" if she was going to spend the rest of the night watching TV it was only fair she knew what the movie was about.

"Maid of Honour," he replied, his cheeks reddening slightly.

"Judging from the name it sounds like a chick flick," Cuddy smiled at him.

"Well we have a choice of Maid of Honour, It, which is a horror movie about a clown or some factual war drama whose name escapes me at the moment," he informed her. "Unless you want to watch Girls of the Playboy Mansion. That could be interesting," he flashed a naughty smile at her and Cuddy felt her stomach flip.

"Maid of Honour it is then," she made herself comfortable on the couch and waited as the opening credits rolled.

The only thing Cuddy remembered about the movie the next morning was that it definitely clichéd. She couldn't believe that it took an entire two hours for the leading man to realise he was in love with his best friend and he couldn't stand the fact that she was getting married to another man. How the main character could not see that his best friend from college was actually in love with him, was way beyond her… Well then again he was a man so she shouldn't have expected any better.

Cuddy was dressed and ready to face the chilly breeze outside in exchange for a little fresh air. She poured herself a steaming mug of the bitter brown liquid into a jumbo sized mug and made her way to the balcony. The chilly air assaulted her nose and chest at once and while she felt like she needed to stand outside for a while, she knew bronchitis and pneumonia were not something she wanted to be suffering from. As she turned to head back into the house she caught a glimpse of Seth in his office, through the glass door. He was seated at his desk, a pen in his hand as he scribbled down notes, his forehead furrowed in concentration and his eyes focused solely on the piece of paper in front of him.

"I thought this was a no work weekend," she stood against the doorframe, smiling at him.

"It was, but there were a few things that needed my attention," he replied guiltily as he placed the phone back into its cradle and closed the open file that was lying on his desk.

"Its fine, take your time," Cuddy knew the feeling, it was exactly how she felt when there were still things to do at the hospital and she just couldn't put them on hold.

Much to Seth's dismay, he had spent almost the entire day working, and it had gone as far as being called into office which he calmly rejected doing. Still that did not stop the endless phone calls and emails about the most unnecessary things that could have waited until he got back to work on Monday morning. By the time he was done and disconnected both his cell phone and email at was already six o clock in the evening. He was so caught up in his work that he completely forgot about Lisa who was now sleeping on the couch in front of the TV with the heater right next to her.

Cuddy had spent the day looking around Seth's home, taking in everything around her. She had come across old photographs of him when he was younger, some with his parents and some she assumed were friends from college or work and a few other ones that she would later ask him about. After a long while she grew bored and sat down to watch TV. She woke up half an hour later to the intoxicatingly delicious smell of freshly baked bread and vegetable soup steaming on the stove. Seth had already set out the table for supper and was adding the final touches to the bread when Cuddy walked into the kitchen.

"Hey there sleeping beauty," Seth greeted without turning to look at her.

"Dinner will be served in a minute, you can have a seat." he informed her.

Cuddy seated herself in the chair Seth had pulled out for her and giggled at the fact that he was a perfect gentleman, and sat in the seat across her. He ladled out some of the vegetable soup in two bowls, cut the now warm bread and placed the plates and bowls in front of them. They made small talk, mostly about the inane questions Seth had to put up with that day. She watched him as he talked animatedly; at times waving his hands to make his point and Cuddy found herself smiling without meaning to.

They were sitting in front of the fireplace, the orange and red flames licking at the brown logs, and small lamp providing light from the far side of the room. Seth stood up to retrieve another log from the pile and placed in the flames, keeping the fire burning. Cuddy watched him intently as he took his seat next to her. His eyes were shining and he was smiling widely showing the dimples in both his cheeks. His hair was dishevelled from running his hands through it throughout the day. The blue woollen jersey he was wearing brought out his eyes and Cuddy couldn't help the flutter in her heart.

She leaned in to him, her hand finding its way to his face, her palm cupping his cheek. Her breathing escalated and she was the one who initiated the kiss. She fused her lips to his, sucking gently until he responded in kind, by opening his mouth and allowing his tongue to meet hers. The kiss deepened and soon enough Seth found himself laying on top her, his eyes screwed shut in pleasure, his mouth melded to hers, and his hands fisted in her hair, while hers traversed his back under his jersey.

"Lisa," Seth broke the kiss and the easy silence, "we need to talk."

A few minutes of silence ensued before she started up again. "Lisa, I can't keep doing this," he motioned between them with his fingers. "Because one minute you're pushing me away and the next you initiate the most passionate kiss I have ever experienced in a long time. We've been seeing each other for a long time and been friends for even longer, and I am ready to take this to the next level, but I'm not sure you're ready."

Cuddy couldn't meet his gaze, she knew he was right.

"The thing is Lisa, I don't know if I can spend the rest of my life waiting for you. I've already spent the last decade doing so, and I'm pretty certain you wouldn't want me spend the next one doing that same thing either."

"So you're leaving me?" she asked uncertainly but Seth smiled at her. "No I'm telling you where I stand; now you have to make a decision. But that doesn't mean I'm going to wait around forever." And with that he leaned into her and kissed her passionately before heading to bed and leaving her with her mind spinning. Well that didn't make her decision any easier.

0 o 0 o 0 o 0

Maya had left early that morning with a genuine thank you from House. Granted it was not a word she would associate with him, but she was sure he was grateful for her help for the second time that day. House fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillows, the strain evident in his body and his mind tired from being awake for such long periods of time.

Wilson quietly let himself into House's apartment at ten 'o clock later that morning, mentally preparing himself for the onslaught of torments, barbs and derogatory remarks from the diagnostician. He was met with silence, however, and he grew anxious knowing that leaving House and Rachel together for extended periods of time usually led to some trouble making scheme on their part, and usually him falling victim to that scheme, no matter how much his best friend claimed he had no feelings regarding their boss's demon spawn.

The curtains in House's bedroom were still obviously closed since the room was still dark although the door was wide open. Wilson made his way over to the room and risked a peek inside, knowing that if House caught him, he would never hear the end of it. He stepped lightly and poked his head through the open doorway, a smile gracing his features as he took in the scene before him. House was fast asleep his body sprawled out on the king sized bed, three of his limbs splayed in different directions and one arm curled protectively around the five year old, little girl currently using his chest as a pillow. Grinning to himself, Wilson entered the room and came to a stop on Rachel's side of the bed. He pulled out his cell phone and angled the camera so that he could get a full shot of House holding Rachel as she slept.

"If you make a noise and wake her up and I will kill you," Wilson jumped at the sound of his best friend's voice and he had to muffle a squeal that wanted to escape him. He looked up at House, expecting to see his cerulean blues pinned on him, but the diagnostician's eyes were still closed. He knew from House's tone that he was not joking, Wilson would be in some serious shit if he woke up the sprog. Wilson decidedly put his phone away, not wanting to be on the receiving end of one of House's pranks, he knew those always ended up with him being embarrassed about something or the other, even though it was not true. House had the innate capability of making something extremely ridiculous pass as credible and Wilson had experienced it on many occasions.

"I came to pick her up," Wilson whispered as softly as he could so House would hear him, but not loud enough to wake the slumbering child.

"It's a little late for that," House replied plainly, his voice tinged with fake annoyance and irritation.

"Oh come on House, it was an emergency," Wilson tried to justify his actions.

"Yeah, a man dying of stage four cancer was definitely an emergency," House shot back.

"Do we have to talk in here or can we at least go out into the living room? I don't want to risk waking Rachel up. And why is she not up yet by the way? Its way past ten already, you were supposed to stick to the routine Cuddy left." Wilson scolded the man still lying in bed.

"Really? I didn't bother to look, and she's five years old, what routine does she have?" House asked disapprovingly. "And no we can't move to the other room, because it'll allow you to raise your voice at me," he finished.

"Well I'm here to pick her up, so if you don't mind," Wilson bent down to free the little girl from House's grasp but the diagnostician was too quick for the oncologist. He pulled Rachel closer into him and tightened his grip around her back substantially.

"Uh, uh not so fast, since I had to watch her last night which in turn cased me to miss my session with the cute hooker because of her banshee like screeching, I'd say you owe me – big time starting today. And I say since I don't have an active case, but I do have twenty hours of clinic duty to complete before the end of this week…" he left the rest of his sentence incomplete knowing Wilson would know exactly what House wanted.

"And what about Rachel?" he asked.

"She's still asleep for now, I'll think of something to do when she wakes up," he informed his best friend plainly.

Wilson sighed in defeat; he knew he was fighting a losing battle, so he warned House about giving Rachel a sugar high, using bad language in her presence and keeping her out of trouble as he shook his head. He proceeded to leave two muffins and two doughnuts on the kitchen table, and packed away the groceries he had brought for House before he let himself out of House's apartment. He was not going to complain if House wanted to spend time with Rachel, in fact he couldn't have asked for a better decision from the diagnostician.

Rachel woke up well after midday and House was already dressed and watching TV when she walked into the living room. She looked around the room bleary eyed, no doubt looking for the lady with the dark and dark eyes and when she did not find her, Rachel went to sit next to House on the sofa. He offered her a sip of his coffee but she scrunched her nose at the smell of it and turned her head away.

"So kid, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" he turned to look at her, and found that Rachel's attention was centred on the TV screen.

They sat in silence watching TV for almost fifteen minutes before House decided he should at least feed the kid, lest she collapse with hunger. Wilson and Cuddy would get together and kill him; the former he could deal with, the latter was an entirely different matter. He was about to get up from his relaxed position on the sofa when his front door swung open and Maya swooped in bringing a gust of icy air with her. She eyed House carefully as he sat watching her, and then moved her gaze to the little girl. Rachel had the 'just woke up face' and Maya had to smile at just how similar Rachel's and House's expressions were. She walked further into the apartment and offered a soft hello to Rachel while she glared at House. He was about to ask her what she was so pissed off about, but she didn't even give him a chance to think of what wisecrack he would use on her.

"I can see you haven't fed the sprog yet," she offered him in greeting, taking in the muffin crumbs and half a glazed doughnut lying unwrapped on the kitchen table. One coffee cup was haphazardly thrown in the sink and she spotted the other in his hand. She went about looking for a small plate, placed the toasted cheese sandwich which she cut into four dainty squares on it and poured half a cup of orange juice and set it on the coffee table in the lounge for Rachel to eat.

"I didn't know I had bread."

"You didn't," she informed him, "your friend that came in this morning brought in a whole lot of groceries."

"Are you stalking me," House raised an eyebrow at her.

"No, but I saw him leave your apartment when I got home this morning."

"This is good," he told her, and she turned around to find him stealing a second square of toasted bread from Rachel's plate and the little girl looking disapprovingly at him, though not yet brave enough to say anything to her Uncle House.

"You could have just asked for one, you know, instead of stealing from a five year old." she scolded him, She made another toasted sandwich and just as before placed it in Rachel's plate, knowing House wouldn't eat it if she gave it to him in his own plate.

"I know, but I don't like special treatment," he replied sarcastically.

"That I know, is the understatement of the decade,"

She grabbed a scatter cushion in her hand and hit him with it as he leaned in to take a sip of Rachel's orange juice. He looked up with shock written all over his face, the cup untouched and a manic grin making its way to his lips. Rachel looked up at Maya, a stupid grin covering her face and picked up a pillow of her own and threw it at House. It landed in his lap, but he acted as though she had gravely injured him. He rubbed his thigh gently, his face mock screwed up in pain. Rachel's expression was concerned for a moment, but she was easily placated when she saw a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

"Come on squirt," Maya addressed Rachel, "you should have a bath before we go out for the evening," she held her hand out for Rachel and they both proceeded to House's bathroom.

"What, am I suddenly invisible?"

"No, but I thought we'd do a girls night and you can get a bit of rest.'

"Yeah right, and then you'll kidnap the sprog from right under my nose. Not gonna happen. If she goes, I go," he stated. "And besides I wouldn't want to deal with the She-devil if the sprog goes missing, I value my life thank you very much."

"I am going to give Rachel a bath and you are going to clean this mess you made," she pointed at the juice and breadcrumbs sprinkled on his coffee table. "And if I think it's clean enough then you can come along," she added.

House mumbled something under his breath that sounded a bit like woman version of Hitler but Maya could've been mistaken. She smiled at him and went to check on his boss's daughter. Ten minutes later Rachel was bathed, and warmly dressed and ready to go. House had to admit she looked especially cute in her bootleg jeans, a warm red sweater with Goofy printed on the front and a matching red beanie covering her head. The drive to the mall was a short one, but Rachel was excited about finally doing something other that watching TV in House's apartment, and she couldn't stop talking, telling them about how her mom always promised to do things with her but how was always too busy with work to do so.

A section of the mall was cordoned off and turned into a play centre for kids while their parents shopped and Rachel's eyes lit up when she saw it. She looked at House, her expression pleading for him to let her go and play and the nod of his head and smile on his face was all the permission she needed from him. When he next looked up at her, she was surrounded by a group of kids who were sitting around her, looking at her in awe, and she appeared to be the ringleader of whatever it was they were about to do.

"It's weird how even when you act like you don't like people you have an impact on their lives even when you don't mean to," Maya said nonchalantly, her gaze fixed on Rachel. "Yes, learning to be a ringleader is a skill everyone is born with," she continued sarcastically.

"I am not a ringleader," he defended himself, though he had no idea why he had to defend himself against a woman he barely knew.

"I'll take your word for it. You up for a cup of coffee?" she asked rubbing her hands together to keep them warm.

"I'll get us two cups," he replied and stood up from the bench they were seated on.

She looked up to find a blonde man attention focused on her, while his girlfriend scanned the coffee menu. He had a quizzical look on his face and she had the instant urge to laugh at him, but she kept it in. He spoke to his friend for a few minutes and then began to make his way to where she was sitting. Maya eyed the blonde man from head to toe and noted as he looked lovingly at his other half.

"Are you a friend of House?" he asked sceptically and his accent surprising her a bit.

"Does it matter?"

"When it comes to House, not really I guess. However I have to admit you're very different from the others."

Maya raised her eyebrow in confusion but decided not to say anything. They both saw Cameron looking around and her eyes finally focusing on House who was talking to Rachel about something, if Maya was sure, he was telling her exactly how to play pranks on the other kids.

"Robert Chase, I work with Dr House," he held out his hand to Maya.

"I am just a friend helping him out with babysitting."

"I think you should meet my girlfriend, Cameron" Chase blurted without thinking.

"I think that's a bad idea," and this time it was Chase's turn to be confused.

"I mean would you rather spend the night hearing her go on about the new girl the guy she had a crush on might be going out with, or hearing how cute he looked looking after a kid and she can't wait to have kids with the man she's currently in love with. Personally I think the second option is the better one, but I mean it is your choice. It all comes down to whether you want to get laid tonight or not," Maya told him matter-of-factly and after a few minutes of deliberation Chase decided she was right. "See you soon," he waved at her.

He stood up from the bench and made his way back to Cameron who was now almost at the front of the line. Cameron was about to place her order when House pushed his way into the line, and standing in front of her.

"Sorry, cripples first," he said before she could yell at him, and placed his order with the lady behind the counter. He waited all of five minutes before his order was ready and made his way back to Maya, all the while his gaze focused on Rachel. It seemed weird that he wasn't at peace unless she was in his line of view. He handed one cup to his bench mate and took a sip from the other, allowing the burning liquid to race down his throat.

An hour and a half later, House was massaging his thigh roughly, the pain increasing with the cold. It had started almost ten minutes ago but he didn't say anything just to let Rachel play for a bit longer, but the pain was becoming unbearable and he had to do something. Maya saw him and immediately called for Rachel who came racing back, her cheeks and nose pink with cold, but her eyes shining excitedly.

"Sweetie, Uncle House isn't feeling too well, so we have to go home." Rachel nodded her head in understanding when she saw House's pained expression.

As soon as Rachel was secured in her car seat and she couldn't see him, House popped two Vicodin pills into his mouth and dry swallowed them. He was aware of Cuddy's disapproval of him taking pills on front of Rachel so he tried to avoid her seeing him do so. They were home fifteen minutes later and House just managed to make it to his bed before collapsing onto it, breathing heavily. Maya switched on the TV for Rachel and made sure she was comfortable before going to check on House. He was sprawled out on his bed, his eyes screwed shut and his breathing laboured, his hands clenched into fists.

"Greg, you need to take off your pants," she commanded.

"I knew you just wanted me for my body, but really now is not the time," he managed to quip.

"Come on," she held out her hand to him, and he grabbed onto it and stood up with great difficulty. He undid his belt buckle, unbuttoned his jeans and let it fall to the ground, though he left his boxers on. He sunk to the bed again and put both his feet up, trying to ease the pain in his right thigh. Then he felt her cool hands on his burning skin. Her hands were soft and smooth and so small, she was massaging his thigh gently, tracing the scar deftly as she eased the flashing pain in his leg. She massaged his leg from top to bottom for about twenty minutes before his breathing started to ease and he began to relax.

"Thank you," he whispered, his blue orbs fixed on her graphite ones.

"You're welcome," she made a move to stand up from the bed but he caught her wrist gently in his hand and kept her seated where she was. He rubbed the inside of her wrist and she felt her heart rate speed up tenfold.

This was so wrong, he was probably in love with another woman, possibly Rachel's mother, and yet here he was tempting her to do… something. He moved in closer to her, his eyes closed, his heart thudding his breath tingling on her lips…

"But Cuddy was seeing Seth so it was not like he was cheating on her," his mind fought back.

She pulled away from him, her mind quickly taking over her racing heart to make the decision. "I gotta go, make sure you feed the rugrat," she warned him as she walked out.

"I'll see you later Rachel," she kissed the little girl on her cheek and then left the apartment hurriedly.

God this was insane… she was only helping him out, not trying to get into his damn pants. Neither of them slept well that night, both of them thinking of what could've happened had she not chickened out at the last minute.

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Reviews are like candy, the more you have the more you want…

Also I though adding other cast members would be fun and yes Chase and Cameron will make a longer second appearance in the next chapter. So will Amber because I thought her character was awesome. (Bearing in mind that I still haven't seen the last few eppies of Season 5. The last one I saw was The Softer Side)

Next chapter: coming soon


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**A/N:** This chapter was the most difficult to write I think because I was hit with a bout of writer's block. This chapter is slightly longer than the previous one and though I had a tough time writing it, I like the way it turned out. Hope you guys like it too. Read and enjoy.

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Chapter 8

Cuddy was awake at half past five on Sunday morning and she cursed at her damn internal clock for being so precise. Then again after years of discipline of waking up early on weekends as well, Cuddy didn't really expect to sleep in just because she was away from home. It was brightening up outside and she knew it would still be a while before normal people woke up on weekends. She brushed her teeth, splashed warm water on her face to wash the sleep out of her eyes, and tied her hair up before changing into her running clothes, which consisted of a set of thermal leggings and vest and her normal track pants and a warm zip up jacket. She grabbed her cell phone and IPod on her way out and closed the door quietly behind her.

The cold wind on her face felt soothing and refreshing, and she knew it was going to be a good run. She breathed in the chilled air and allowed it to travel to her lungs, her airways stinging with the cold. The thudding of her sneakered feet hitting the asphalt pathway was soothing to her, and she didn't need the IPod to distract her mind from anything. She was thinking about the proposition Seth had given her the previous night and she found that he was actually right. Their relationship was clearly going nowhere, since House invaded her every thought and she felt like she was cheating on him even though they weren't in a relationship, and she needed to see what House's intentions were, whether the few kisses they shared were just that – kisses and nothing more.

The ten mile run was over before she knew it, and two hours later she was entering Seth's home as quietly as she could, assuming he was still in the Land of Nod. She headed directly for the shower, her muscles screaming for release and warmth. She allowed the water to cascade down her body as it rinsed the shower gel off her body. The warm spray of water massaged her neck and back muscles and rid it of the tension that had settled there before she had made her decision to agree with Seth. By the time she exited the shower, her skin had wrinkled from being so long in the water.

Breakfast consisted of a bowl of cereal and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice that Seth had left out on the counter for her, along with the note that he had to run a few errands and would be back by nine 'o clock and then they would leave. He returned an hour earlier and he was impressed that he managed to do all his work in less time than he thought it would take. Cuddy was caught off guard for a minute as soon as he walked back into the house. He was wearing a pair of well worn jeans, sneakers and a deep blue pullover that accented his eyes; his hair was mussed by the wind and stuck up at odd angles on his head. He offered her his dimpled smile and she couldn't deny the fact that he was definitely good looking

"Are you ready to leave yet?" he asked when he noticed her watching him with interest.

"Yeah, I just need to grab my phone from the bed stand," she replied, but made no move to retrieve the object from the bedroom she had slept in.

"Something on your mind?" he asked when he spotted her standing in the same place five minutes later.

"I'm sorry Seth, I feel like I've short-changed you on this trip. It was supposed to bring us closer instead, we're doing the opposite of what we were supposed to do," she admitted.

"Hey, there's nothing to be sorry about, and besides there is nothing wrong in making sure that you are making the right decision for yourself, even if it means it more time and some time away from you." He rubbed the pad of his thumb against her cheek, and smiled warmly at her. Her hands instinctively placed themselves on his face, her hands palming his cheeks.

"Thank you," she whispered before kissing him gently, her tongue duelling with his, and her hands fisted in his hair.

He pulled away from her reluctantly, knowing that if he didn't things might progress to the level and while physically she was more than ready, he knew that mentally and emotionally that was not the case. He needed her to be absolutely positive that she was making the right decision. He didn't want her to have any regrets and he certainly didn't want to be in a relationship with a woman he loved but could not love him back in the same way.

"We should get going, or else you're not going to get to spend time with Rachel today," he slowly released himself from her and headed toward the door. She picked up her two small bags and followed his footsteps out of the house and into the car. The two hour drive back to Princeton was a relatively quiet, though not as tense as Cuddy thought it would be. She watched as the houses whizzed by her, taking in the scenery and sunlight, something she rarely got to experience since spent most of her day, confined in her office, behind her desk doing mostly paperwork.

"I've decided to rent an apartment," Seth broke the comfortable silence they'd been enjoying, and Cuddy turned to look at him.

"You don't have to," she started but was stopped in the middle of her sentence by him.

"I do, Lisa. We both need a bit of space until you're ready," his voice was soft and gentle. "And I'm sure it'll ease Rachel's mind a little." The confused expression on her face made him realise she had no idea what he was talking about. "I think Rachel needs a bit more time too, and besides now that I'm not there, she'll see me as less of a threat, since she won't be feeling like she has to fight for your attention."

"Rachel's a child, she's a bit too young to understand and she certainly doesn't need to feel like I'm taking her mother away from her," she said after a moment and finally she decided he was right. She hadn't spent enough time with her daughter in the last few months and now was her chance to make up for it.

"I'll call James and tell him we're coming back early and I'll be picking her up in a short while," she retrieved her cell phone from her bag and called Wilson, to give him the news.

"Wilson seemed a bit worried when I spoke to him," she thought out loud.

"If there was anything wrong with Rachel he would have called," Seth tried to keep her calm.

"I know, but I can't help but wonder now if there was something wrong, because every time I called, he told me she was asleep, or out with Amber or doing something and she really couldn't come to the phone and talk to me."

"Maybe he just didn't want you to worry," Seth offered and Cuddy nodded. Wilson was someone who would try and solve all the problems of the world without asking for help if it meant hurting them or worrying them for no reason.

The rest of the journey passed in complete silence as each of them was caught up in their own thoughts. The only time the silence was broken was when Seth asked for directions to Wilson's house to pick Rachel up, knowing she would be waiting patiently for her mother. They arrived at Wilson's apartment a little after two 'o clock while Rachel was excited to see her mother and leaped into her mothers' waiting arms, Wilson seemed somewhat jumpy and only offered a small "hey you're back!"

"Did she behave?" Cuddy knew the answer to that, but she had to ask anyway and this time it was Amber who answered, "She was fine, but I think she'd like some time with you now," the blonde woman smiled at Cuddy and she nodded her head.

"Come on sweetie, its time to go," she greeted Wilson and Amber goodbye and headed back to the car, Wilson helping her out with all of Rachel's stuff. Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the Cuddy house and Rachel was more than excited to be home after what seemed like a long time. She ran into her room and the first thing she brought out to show her mother was the small, toy battery operated piano keyboard Cameron had given her as a birthday gift the year before. The little girl sat down on the plush carpeted floor and placed the keyboard on her lap, before she flexed her fingers and began playing. Cuddy recognised it as the rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and while it was not perfect, Rachel had got at least the notes for the first two lines correct.

Seth left a little while later, wanting to give Cuddy more time with Rachel and he needed to sort out his apartment too before the work week started. Cuddy walked him to the door and was about to kiss him goodbye when he surprised her by placing a soft chaste kiss on her cheek.

"You have a great time with Rachel and I'll see you in the week," he told her, then drove off, with Cuddy watching until his car was out of sight.

"Mommy, I built a snowman yesterday!" Rachel told her mother as Cuddy re-entered her home, the little girl's eyes glinting with happiness and shining with pride. He had two black buttons for eyes, and a carrot for a nose, but we didn't put a mouth on him, because snowmen don't smile. And we gave him a cane, just for fun but Uncle House didn't think it was very funny," she continued without taking a breath. "Then Maya came and put a scarf and hat on for him, and he really did look like Uncle House, mommy," Cuddy assumed Rachel had been talking about James and Amber, but Maya's name had caught her totally off guard, however, she decided Maya could just as well have been living in the same building as Wilson.

Cuddy spent the rest of the day listening to Rachel telling her all about the fun weekend she had experienced, though she did miss her mother but only when it was time to sleep. They ordered in pizzas and ate in the lounge while watching Beauty and The Beast as Cuddy had promised her daughter they would do, and just as when she had read the story to Rachel, Cuddy found her daughter deep in thought, her forehead crinkled with frown lines and unwittingly twirling the metal fork she was holding in her right hand. Looking at Rachel, Cuddy began to wonder if that was a habit she had picked up from House herself or if the diagnostician had taught it to her to throw her mother off at times.

Finally at nine 'o clock Cuddy decided it was time for Rachel to go to bed, knowing she would have to be up early the next morning because Cuddy would be going in to work early. She watched as Rachel brushed her teeth and washed her face, brushed out the knots from her hair and then changed into a pair of sleepwear Cuddy didn't remember buying for her. The sweater and pants were bright green and instead of the usual Disney Princess print on the front of the sweater, there was a huge smiling face of what looked like a blue blob of jelly. She would have to tell Wilson about giving Rachel whatever she wanted. After reading Rachel a bed time story, Cuddy tucked her in and kissed her on her forehead, whispered a soft goodnight and switched off the lamp when she exited her daughter's room.

The day had finally come to an end and Cuddy was more than ready to climb into bed and have a good night's sleep. She had already carried out her night routine of checking all her doors and windows were locked, and brushing her teeth which was followed by a long, hot shower. As she lay in bed, there was something niggling in the back of her mind and she knew if she didn't do it, she would never fall off to sleep. She switched on the lamp, picked up her phone and dialled his number. She waited for a long while, knowing he was probably avoiding everyone, but she was disappointed when she heard his voice on the answering machine.

"If you're hearing this message then I'm most likely avoiding you, but if you feel the need to talk about whatever is on your mind, DON'T because I don't care," and that was followed by a long beep. She decided to leave a message at the last minute.

"Hey House, it's me, I just wanted to let you know I'm back," and then she hung up. Hopefully she'd see him at work tomorrow and everything would be the same as it was before she had left for her weekend.

0 o 0 o 0

Maya woke up with one hell of a hang-over on Saturday morning. She had run as fast as her scrawny legs would carry her, out of his apartment and straight to the liquor cabinet in hers. One shot had turned into two and two into half the bottle, and then she lost count and the number of bottles sprawled out on the floor of her apartment increased. She was insane, he was clearly in love with another woman, whose child he was looking after for the weekend, while said woman was spending a weekend away with another man. Thinking about it made her head spin so she dropped all thoughts of the attractive blue eyed man in the apartment across the hall and just waited until the nauseas feeling subsided so she could at least stand on her own.

She looked around warily, and then she remembered that she passed out in the guest bedroom. For some reason she didn't have the courage the previous night to sleep in her own bed, so she crashed in the guest room. She heard the doorknob turn and her door swing open quietly, and Maya knew she was in for a long morning. The sound of Anna's voice booming through the small apartment was enough to trigger another headache for Maya, so she closed her eyes and cradled her head as though the small action would have helped.

"What the hell happened here?" Anna asked Maya, the concern for her friend showing on her face.

"I had a rough night." Maya stated not offering any other explanation.

"Why didn't you call me?" Anna asked now making her way toward Maya who was still sitting on the bed.

Maya merely glanced at her friend, not saying a word, her eyes puffy and red.

"It was nothing I needed a bit of time out," Maya tried not to make it an issue, but clearly Anna had different thoughts,

"Yeah 2 bottles of tequila and one of scotch clearly doesn't mean anything," Anna replied sarcastically.

I don't want to talk about it," Maya said curtly as she glanced at her wrist watch, "and I'm going to be late, so if you don't mind I'm going to take a shower." With that she stood up unsteadily, and walked to her room to pick out her clothes for the day and then to the bathroom to shower and clean herself up. When she got out of the shower twenty minutes later, fully dressed and ready to face the day, Anna was still in her apartment, clearly awaiting an explanation for her friend's behaviour.

"You're not on the roster today," Anna stated.

"And I didn't say I was going to work, I have other things to do, so I think it would be better if you left," and this time there was no space for further questions.

"Maya…' Anna started up again but was silenced when she saw Maya's glare. "Fine, but this is not over," she said and then proceeded to make her way out of Maya's apartment.

Maya heaved in a deep breath and counted to twenty, she knew it never helped with her anger issues, but hell she could try. She hated when people sprang up like that on her and demanded to know what the hell was going on in her life, and they tried to fix something that really couldn't be fixed. She resented people feeling sorry for her and it absolutely pissed her off when they walked in without any sort of warning and tried to help, hoping it would make up for the past.

When she was slightly less furious, she decided to go and check in on Rachel, because knowing House, he would still be asleep and the kid would be awake and either watching TV or sitting there bored out of her mind. She grabbed the DVD that was lying on her coffee table and headed out her apartment and straight to House's apartment. She felt for the spare key on top of the doorframe, fed it into the keyhole, turned it until she heard the lock click open and replaced the key. She pushed the door open softly not wanting to rouse the sleeping child. If she woke the man up, well he would deal with it. She closed the door just as quietly, behind her, hoping that she didn't wake the kid up.

As she expected she found Rachel sitting in the lounge watching television, her mind totally immersed in the raising of white tigers in captivity and how they were an endangered species already. Maya was surprised; she didn't think kids of that age actually understood what being in captivity meant, let alone endangered species.

"Hi Squirt," she greeted and sat herself down on the opposite end of the couch Rachel was seated on.

"Where's Uncle Greg?" she asked when she noted that House was nowhere to be seen.

"Still sleeping," Rachel informed her dully, but the little girl was intrigued when she saw the smile that crept up on her new friend's face.

"You should eat something, get dressed and then we can go and wake Uncle Greg up, okay?" Rachel nodded her head.

After Rachel had eaten breakfast, which consisted of a bowl of Coco-Pops and a small cup of orange juice, she was ready to face the day. A quick shower later, she was dressed warmly in a pair of navy blue bootlegged pants, a knitted blue sweater, and warm boots, Maya decided Rachel was ready to wake House up. She whispered into the little girl's ear and Rachel sceptically looked up at the older woman, her brow frowned in confusion. Nevertheless, Rachel walked up to the bed House was asleep on and climbed up onto it. She crawled as close to him as she could, without shaking the mattress and then placed her hand on his upper arm.

"Uncle House," she whispered to him and shook his arm gently.

House was usually a light sleeper, but when he did manage to fall asleep at odd hours of the morning, he usually slept in until at least eleven 'o clock. Maya glanced at the digital clock on the bed stand, it read 10:45. Damn she didn't realise it was early for him – she could have done with at least another hour of sleep, well now that she was awake, she figured why suffer alone. She egged the little girl on and Rachel repeated her action of calling House's name softly and shaking his arm. House merely grunted something unclear to them and turned over onto his side, and now facing Rachel.

Maya walked out of the room, only to reappear a few minutes later, a camera in hand and focused squarely on House and Rachel.

"Try again Sweetheart," she told Rachel and the little girl did, but it was to no avail, House was still sound asleep. Maya walked over to Rachel and whispered something else in her ear and this time Rachel shook her head; there was no way she was going to do that.

"He won't get angry, I promise you and if he does, I will deal with him okay?" she convinced the brown haired girl. Rachel once again turned to face the sleeping man and put her face as close to his without touching him as possible. And then she shouted out loud enough to wake House up.

"Daddy wake up I'm going to be late," she yelled and House bolted upright, the pain shooting up his thigh and his breathing heavy and laboured.

"Daddy, it has a nice ring to it," Maya said after a short silence, in which House managed to regulate his breathing, dry swallowed two Vicodin pills and give Rachel enough time to scram from the bed and hide behind Maya. He looked at her, his face set in a scowl and that was when he saw the camera focused on him, and it was still recording. He was going to kill her and the little devil spawn, and then delete the video.

"I am going to kill you!" his voice held no mirth and for a second she actually thought he was serious.

"Yeah, but we can both outrun you," she quipped and he had to admit she was right. They'd be gone by the time he stood up from the bed.

"Don't you have something better to do?" he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Nope, and there's 3 feet of snow outside, it's not going to last forever you know. We're headed out to the park, but since you're up you can join us," Maya informed him, not waiting for a clever quip from him and throwing his towel at him, indicating he was not to waste any time. When he entered the lounge the two girls were giggling softly and he couldn't help the smile that made its way to his lips. Maya handed him a bagel and a Styrofoam cup of hot coffee. "You can eat in the car," she informed him.

"So much for a lazy Saturday morning," he grouched, stuffed the bagel in his mouth and gripped his cane with his right hand.

House found the park quite full for a biting cold Saturday morning. There were kids dressed in warm clothes running around the park, making noise and throwing snowballs at each other. A withering glare sent in their general direction made sure the kids didn't aim anywhere near House where he sat on the wooden table, and his legs resting on the bench. They watched as Rachel made a few friends and began to play in their game of snowball tag. Maya came to sit next to him, and offered him a second bagel, which he gratefully accepted.

"You know, despite your reaction to the incident this morning, I know you felt something when she called you daddy," Maya said conversationally, but her gaze firmly focused on the laughing 5 year old girl. "Your face gave you away."

House's gaze never waved from Rachel, his attention focused solely on her. Yes he had definitely felt something rise in his chest when she had referred to him as daddy earlier that morning, though he would not have admitted it to anyone. She really was not all that bad; in fact she was a great kid, better behaved than most kids her age, and certainly much smarter. Hell she was an amazing kid, he had to admit; Cuddy had done a fantastic job with raising her.

"Yeah, but I think the more important thing here is that I'm not her father," he informed her curtly, his tone left no space for response from her.

An hour later, Rachel walked up to where Maya and House were still seated; she flashed House a huge grin and politely asked Maya if she would help the group of kids to build a snowman. The dark haired woman agreed and jumped down from her seat, but not before offering House something to think about.

"You know if you don't claim this amazing kid someone else is going to and you're always going to be the one wondering, what if. Is that what you want for the rest of your life, to hear her call another man 'Daddy, or watch as he teaches her how to play the piano, puts a band aid on her cuts and assures her that everything is going to be okay, watch her hug someone else at graduation and most importantly stand by and watch on as another man walks her down the aisle on the most important day of her life, because from where I'm standing Greg, that is the direction you're heading in," and with that she headed off to help the group of children with their snowman.

There were shouts of glee as soon as the snowman was completed and House had to stifle a smile as he watched Rachel approach him cautiously. "The cane was not my idea," she blurted as soon as she was within earshot of House, "but the scarf and hat were and I think he looks like you, but he's much fatter than you." Damn the little runt was growing on him with every second that passed. And the score was Rachel: 2 House: O.

They spent the rest of the day indoors, despite Rachel's protests of wanting to play in the snow, but House knew Cuddy would skin him alive if her little kid got sick while on his watch. Dinner had consisted of a vegetarian pizza and coke for Rachel and Maya while House favoured a meat topped one and cold beer from his fridge.

"This chicken is really good, you don't know what you're missing out on, Kid" he said between mouthfuls of pizza. Rachel looked up at him, the disgust at his manners or lack thereof showing on her face. She definitely got that look from her mother.

"Greg that is disgusting, and her mother raised her to be vegetarian, so lets please keep it that way," Maya reprimanded him as she cleared the empty boxes and dirty plates from the coffee table and placed them in the sink.

"Hey squirt, would you like to watch a movie?" Maya waved the DVD in front of Rachel. She nodded her head and sat herself down on the sofa right next to House, her head leaning on his arm and her hand resting on his. The movie turned out to be quite entertaining even though House was not a fan of animations and he found the sound of Rachel's giggling quite contagious.

"Uncle House, I think Dr Cockroach looks a bit like you," she piped up during a lull in the movie, and Maya tried to hold in her laughter at the look or pure horror on House's face. The little bugger did not just compare him to an insect. Three quarters of the way into the movie Rachel had fallen asleep, so Maya placed her on House's bed and covered her with the blanket before greeting House goodnight and heading back to her apartment.

Sunday morning came bright and early for Rachel and she was way too excited to stay in bed. Her mother was coming home today and she couldn't wait to see her and tell her everything she had done for the past few days. She jumped out of bed and silently padded to the lounge where she found House asleep on the sofa, his hand clenched tightly around an orange bottle. She didn't want to wake him up but there was nothing to do, so she played with the new toy set he had bought her the day they went to the shopping centre.

An hour later House still hadn't woken up and she was getting bored and restless, so she looked around for something to keep her occupied. Her gaze settled on the piano on opposite side of the room from where she was seated, and she slowly walked up to the bench and sat herself down on it. She stole a quick glance at House, making sure his eyes were still closed and pressed a key, allowing the note to filter through the apartment. If House was deep in sleep before that, clearly the noise from his piano had woken him up. He cracked an eye open and waited for it to adjust to the light, before it settled on Rachel who he noted was sitting on the piano bench, deep in thought about which key to press next.

House sat up from his sleeping position and rubbed his right thigh gently. He then went to freshen up and returned a few minutes later and made his way over to the piano bench where Rachel was still seated. She motioned for her to move up a little and he took a seat next to her. He flexed his fingers and played a few keys, filling the room with a soft melody. Then without thinking he picked up the little girl and seated her on his lap, making sure she was not resting on his right thigh. He positioned her smaller fingers on the black and ivory keys and placed his larger ones over hers. He started playing slowly, letting her get used to the feel of the keys under her fingers, and when he was sure she had it, he started on an easy tune.

As soon as she recognised the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Rachel smiled. Uncle House was playing something she knew, so she could play with him. They played for a long while, and while House knew she would not be able to remember all the tunes or the keys to press, he didn't feel the urge to just leave her and let her play whatever she wanted. He liked the feeling of sharing something with Rachel that only he could, neither Wilson nor Seth could play the piano and this was his thing with her, some part of her that he could claim for himself, without actually saying it out loud.

They ate breakfast after an hour of playing and Rachel was eager to have another music lesson with House, while the diagnostician on his part felt the same way. He smiled to himself, if someone had told him a week ago that he'd actually felt like being a permanent part of Rachel's life he would have balked at the idea, but now as he sat with her on the piano bench playing tunes he made up just for her he couldn't think of any other place he would rather be. But he was House, and he was sure to screw things up sooner rather than later, so he made the most of the time he had left with her and decided that he would not fight for what he wanted. And besides she needed a better role model for a father, and Seth certainly seemed to fit that profile.

Rachel got tired after a while and settled herself on the sofa as House continued to play for her. He closed his eyes and let his fingers run effortlessly and seamlessly on the black and white keys, creating a tune just for little girl watching him. He had created one for her mother a long time ago, and now five years later he was creating one for her daughter, who he didn't think he'd ever come to love as much as he did. When he looked up again he found her fast asleep on the couch, clutching her blue blanket, which he recognised as the one he'd given Cuddy a few months after she had officially adopted Rachel. He walked over to the sofa and settled himself on it, and placed her so she was lying on his chest, her head resting on his sternum. Her steady heartbeat was enough to relax him and soon enough he was deeply asleep.

When Maya entered his apartment she was stunned to see the scene in front of her. House was holding tightly onto Rachel who was still lying on his chest, both breathing deeply and both deep in slumber. She looked around the apartment and shook her head when she saw their breakfast dishes lying on the table. She started with the dishes first and then proceeded to House's bedroom to gather up all Rachel's stuff which had somehow found a place amongst all his things.

She was caught off guard when she heard House's door swing open and a soft gasp escape the visitor's mouth. She walked to the front room and saw House's friend looking at her his face quickly turning red with rage.

"House," Wilson bellowed and it was enough to get both House and Rachel awake.

"You have a … " he couldn't finish the sentence, knowing Rachel would ask what a hooker was so he pointed at Maya, "here while Rachel is here?" His voice was rising with every word.

"What?" House looked from Wilson to Maya and back to Wilson and then he figured out what his best friend was trying to ask him, but before he could respond Maya started talking.

"Now that you've already assumed I'm a hooker, I don't think it would matter if I told you I'm actually here to clean Greg's apartment." Her eyes flashed dangerously. "And by the way, you owe me extra for this weekend," she turned to House. She saw Wilson flush with embarrassment, but she thought he deserved it, not even giving her a chance to explain.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled to her as he gathered Rachel's stuff.

"Sorry doesn't change your first impression and it doesn't mean anything to me either," she told him and he flushed more, if that was even possible. House sat on the couch smirking at his best friend and the new friend, it would teach Wilson to keep his nose out of other people's business.

"Cuddy called, she's coming home early so I thought I should take Rachel to my place, so Cuddy wouldn't know her kid spent an entire three and a half days with you."

House nodded and Wilson motioned for Rachel to go with him. The little girl did so, but not before she whispered something in House's ear and hugged him with all the force her little body could muster. House walked them out of the door and helped Rachel into Wilson's car. He re-entered his apartment only once Wilson's car was out of sight. Somehow his apartment seemed empty now, like there was something missing and Maya's speech about staking a claim on Rachel came back to his mind, and he question himself if he wanted to be the man who would always be wondering: what if.

Maya was still leaning against the wall when he House retuned and he noted he only had to take one step to reach her. He stepped up into her personal space and watched her face for any reaction that said she was uncomfortable with what he was doing. When he saw nothing he leaned in slowly, and effectively pinned her back to the wall, with his chest in contact with hers and his face mere millimetres away from hers. She felt his hands on her face and her eyes closed instinctively, when she felt his lips kissing the hollow at he base of her throat. Her hands found their way to his hair and they tangled themselves in the soft, salt and pepper curls.

The shrill ringing of her cell phone broke the haze they were caught in and she reluctantly tore her body away from his. She read the name on the screen and he felt her tense up immediately.

"I gotta go," was all she offered as she grabbed her stuff and bolted out of his apartment.

* * *

I know I said there would be Chase and Cameron in this chapter, but I guess I was wrong. They will definitely be in the next chapter though. I also know House is a bit OOC but interacting with kids can to that to a person.

Please read and review and tell me if I should continue, because if you readers aren't enjoying it there's no point in going on.

Thanks.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1.

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay in updating this sooner, as RL life settled in and fucked up my entire month. But fear not, as I took some time out and managed to get this chapter done. It's a little shorter than the last one, but that's because it's the setting for the next one… which should be up by next week or so, as I already have it planned out, it only needs to be typed out.

I have to thank PDubou for reminding me to update this fic, because without the reminders, I would have never got off my ass to do so. And to I luv ewansmile LOL I thought of hooking Wilson and Maya up, but he's a little to timid and boring for her, she needs someone with as much attitude and spunk as she has… maybe like …Chase or …Thirteen. To everyone to has been reading this and reviewing, thank you very much, it means a lot. Now on with it….

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Cuddy hadn't seen House for a full two weeks after she had returned from her disastrous weekend away. While she actually was grateful that he was not there to interrupt her as she caught up on two missed days of work, she secretly hoped that he would, as usual, barge through her office doors, requesting to do some illegal or life threatening procedure on a patient who did not need it, just so that she knew he was okay; that they were okay. The fact that he had not answered her call two weeks ago, and that he didn't come looking for her to question her about her rendezvous with Seth worried her. Her personal life was of great interest to him, unless… but she let the thought wander, thinking he was possibly interested in someone else was… ridiculous if nothing else.

Still, during the two long weeks of him avoiding her, Cuddy noted that House had not stopped with creating havoc in and around her hospital, whether it was something major, like changing the MRI and CT scanners variables for all patients or something minor like sending back his prescription pad just because he didn't like the font they used for his name. Those were the minor things she could deal with, and so she decided to let him be, she knew it was his way of letting off steam and unwinding, and it was definitely better than him drinking himself to sleep or worse, like increasing his Vicodin intake, as he was prone to doing.

She had spoken to Wilson about it, but Wilson hadn't told her anything she didn't already know, and all he did was agree with her that House was acting out because she had gone away without telling him. She knew he was more miserable than ever, and she felt guilty, but Seth's words from their conversation from their weekend away made their way to her mind. She would not spend the rest of her life waiting for a man who clearly was not going to make a move. She had hoped her little getaway would have prompted him actually take one step forward between them and told her exactly where their 'non relationship' was going, but he was House and nothing was ever simple with House.

Picking up a new file from the stack of papers she was working on, Cuddy saw a pale pink envelope sticking out from one of the corners. Her interest was piqued and she opened it hurriedly. It was a dinner invitation for her and a partner, with a personal note saying they had something important to ask her from Chase and Cameron, for the coming Saturday. Cuddy picked up the phone and called Cameron to accept the invite, and let her know she was not sure if she was coming alone or with a partner, and she would let the younger doctor know as soon as possible. She then continued to work on the files scattered across her desk, hoping to get through half of them before it was time to go home.

After grabbing a quick lunch from the cafeteria, during her break, Cuddy decided she would go and talk to House to see what his damn issue was. She had tried with as much effort as she could to not let House's behaviour affect her, but it was easier said or well thought than done. This was insane, they had never gone this long without talking to each other, much less not seeing each other and she was growing tired of it. She bought a Reuben from the cafeteria, making sure all the pickles were removed, grabbed a can of Coke from her office and proceeded to make her way to House's office two floors above hers. As she neared his office, she heard Foreman and Taub complaining about the paperwork House had given them to do, since they refused to complete his clinic hours for the week.

The sound of Wilson's voice filtered through House's darkened office and into the quiet corridor to Cuddy's ears. She couldn't make out what he was saying, but it seemed like he was reprimanding his friend for something or the other and for some reason Cuddy was not surprised. It was always like that between them, House doing irrational things and Wilson trying to make him see sense and not succeeding at all. Smiling to herself, she entered his office without knocking and immediately both men stopped talking. Cuddy got the distinct feeling they were talking about her, but she said nothing. Instead she walked up to House's glass table and placed the sandwich and Coke can on it, her gaze raptly fixed on him.

"Thought you might be hungry, since you spent so much of your time holed up in here," her voice was cool and collected; though that was not the way she was feeling on the inside. All it took was one look at his face and she saw all she needed to see, he looked like he hadn't eaten or slept in days, his hair was dishevelled, his hand was constantly rubbing his right thigh, and a pang of guilt shot through her, his leg pain had certainly increased in the last two weeks.

She was about to ask him about him avoiding her for the past two weeks, but before the first words could leave her mouth, he beat her to it. A short, heated argument in the presence of Wilson and his new team later, she exited his office, her chest alight with fury and tears stinging her eyes. She would not let him have the satisfaction of seeing them fall from the corners of her cool grey orbs.

She locked herself up in her office for the four remaining hours of the day, completed the propositions she had drawn up for the new neo-natal equipment she wanted for the NICU, answered emails concerning a conference to be held in Greece that she was asked to attend, and checked the expense sheets of all the departments, making sure all the funds that were allocated were accounted for.

It was time to go home when The Dean finally emerged from her office and informed her assistant she could leave early for the weekend. She still had a few patients to check on and one chart to sign before she left for the night, and so Cuddy made her way to the paediatric wing of her hospital, with lollipops in one hand and her stethoscope and patient files in the other. An hour later she was done with all her patients, and as she walked down the third floor corridor, she spied House's office light still on and she heard his lackeys' voices drifting into the quiet passageway. It struck her then, that House had not answered Wilson's question on whether he was going to join them for dinner on Saturday evening, and so she came up with a proposal in mind to get him to accept the invitation. It must have been really important if Cameron and Chase had gone through the trouble of inviting him, even though they knew it would be a mission to get House to actually accept it.

The brown haired woman walked toward her employee's office, hoping he was alone so they could continue what she had started earlier that afternoon. She stepped into the conference room, where Thirteen, Taub, Kutner and Foreman were seated, and kept themselves busy while their boss was… She looked into House's office to only see that the world renowned diagnostician was in the company of a very provocatively dressed woman, who was standing extremely close to him and holding a bottle of Vodka in her hand.

Unfortunately for Cuddy though, the woman's back was facing her and the older woman could see the face of House's new female friend. Cuddy's heart shattered into a million pieces and she remembered the time House had brought her old Med School desk for her, but when she went up to thank him for it, he was too interested in the hooker standing before him. She shook her head as though it would rid her of the memory, and walked on to Kutner to ask him if he would baby sit Rachel on Saturday evening. She had made up her mind, she was going to attend that dinner with Seth, whether House liked it or not.

She watched the two occupants in House's office intently, her anger from that afternoon returned and the jealousy flared up in her gut. She hated seeing other woman in such close proximity with him, but there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop them, it was not like she and House were in a relationship of some sort. Cuddy wanted to kill the woman whose cheek House had so lovingly caressed, but she was at a disadvantage, simply because she could not see the damn hooker's face. Cuddy was not a jealous person, she really didn't have anything to be jealous about, she had a successful career which she worked hard for, she had the high paying job she always dreamed of, and she had her daughter Rachel, but hell even she had her limits.

After she asked Kutner if he was available to watch Rachel for her on Saturday, Cuddy decided she was going to confront House about bringing his women to work, but before she even had the chance to take one step forward, she saw House guiding the woman out of his office, his large hand resting reassuringly on her lower back, as he led her down the quiet corridor. All five occupants watch with open mouths as House's form retreated and they were swallowed by the closing elevator doors at the end of the passageway.

Cuddy quietly closed the door to home, and dropped her bags on table in the hallway with as little noise as possible, hoping that Rachel was actually asleep for once. She loved her daughter unconditionally, and there was nothing in the world that would have stopped her from spending time with the little sprog, but Cuddy was more than annoyed and irritated at House, and she did not want to take out her anger on her daughter. But as it seemed lately; luck was not on Cuddy's side and Rachel was still awake waiting for her mother to return so they could watch Kim Possible together.

She felt as though in the three days she was gone, Rachel had developed a whole new personality and definitely a few bad habits, and they were not just general ones, they were ones she could identify very easily, ones she came across on a daily basis. The first thing Cuddy had noticed her daughter do was to ignore her sitter if she didn't feel like doing what the older girl had told her to do, and if she had to do it, she would question her why on every task. The second was scrunching up her face and nagging for something until Cuddy finally gave in, just so that the little girl would stop whining. The third and most annoying one was Rachel asking to do something totally insane and making it sound like it was no big deal at all for a 5 year old to be asking. And for some insane reason, Cuddy had the feeling Rachel had somehow picked up all these habits from House, but House didn't even spend time with her daughter so that in itself was a ridiculous idea.

With Rachel wide awake even at this time of the night, Cuddy knew there was no chance she was going to be drinking her sorrow and more importantly her jealousy away, like she had planned on the way home. She settled herself on the couch next to Rachel and unconsciously ran her hand along the girl's arm, her anger dissipating somewhat as she continued the motion of her hand.

"Hey sweetie, you're supposed to be asleep," she told her daughter softly. Rachel merely smiled up at her mother, but her face showed she was thinking something over with immense concentration and for a second Cuddy was reminded of House. She sighed tiredly; even when the man himself was not present he managed to somehow get into her thoughts.

"Mom," the sound of Rachel's voice brought her out of her thoughts, "Why doesn't Uncle Greg come to visit you anymore?" The question caught Cuddy unawares and she had to think fast to come up with an answer, but Rachel beat her to it.

"Is it because he goes to visit Aunt Maya like how Seth comes over to visit you?" Rachel asked innocently but the images of House and another woman in uncompromising positions filled Cuddy's mind and her anger returned at full force. When Rachel had mentioned Maya before she Cuddy had thought it was a figment of her daughter's overactive imagination, but after seeing House with that… woman… Cuddy was having doubts. But even then, House would not have brought one of his hookers home in Rachel's presence, he was not that much of a jerk… was he?

"Rachel, it's late and mommy is tired, I think we should head to bed okay?" Rachel heard her mother's tone and she knew her mother was not going to answer any more questions so she hopped off the sofa and made her way to her bedroom, shouting a cheerful good night to her mother from the passageway. Maybe she would be able to drink her jealousy away after all, Cuddy thought as he made her way to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of scotch and a tumbler and poured her first shot.

0 o 0 o 0 o 0

House sat in his darkened office, twisting a rubber band between his fingers, his mind deep in thought. He had been avoiding Cuddy for the last two weeks, and it was not as easy as it sounded, despite what his underlings had said. The first two days were actually bearable because he had a new patient referred to him by Cameron, and he was so caught up in trying to diagnose the bloody woman, he barely had time to think of his boss. That did not however stop him from creating havoc in and around the hospital and sending his lackeys to get permission to perform ridiculous, life threatening tests the patient didn't even need.

He hadn't seen either Rachel or Maya since they had left his apartment two weeks ago and to tell the truth he was actually missing both of them, though he would never admit it to anyone. He tried to divert his attention from them by annoying Wilson and Cameron, making Taub and Foreman do inane and repetitive paperwork, while Kutner and Thirteen filled in his clinic hours. He had considered telling Cuddy to bring the little squirt to work with her, but that meant he actually had to talk to his boss and that was not something he wanted to do, so he abandoned the idea and kept miserably to himself.

A few hours later though, Wilson stepped into House's office, and seeing the diagnostician hard at work – tossing his oversized tennis ball against the wall, he decided to have a little chat with the man.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Wilson asked his best friend as he took a seat opposite House.

"What makes you think there's something to talk about?" House didn't divert his attention from the ball.

"You've cooped yourself up in your office for the better part of the past two weeks, you haven't asked Cuddy about her little holiday yet, you haven't created as much trouble in the clinic as you usually do," came Wilson's exasperated reply. He knew House was not going to talk about anything, but he had to at least try.

"And that gave you the idea I wanted to talk?"

"Look, Cuddy is worried about you, maybe you should let her know you guys are okay, that you being moody has nothing to do with her." Wilson tiredly, he knew this conversation was either going to go in circles, or nowhere. It was then he spied the blue envelope peeking out from under House's desk calendar and decided to change the subject.

"Are you planning on going to the dinner?" his tone was hopeful.

"Yeah, you can hold my hand while Chase and Cameron profess their undying love for each other, and their plans to live happily ever after in their perfect home with the white picket fence and their perfect two and a half kids. You can be Cameron's Maid of Honour at the wedding, it will be so romantic," was House's sarcastic reply, his attention still on the ball he tossed into the air.

"Cuddy and Seth are going to be there, and at least you won't have to pay for the alcohol," Wilson smiled up at House, but the man merely grunted an undecipherable reply his a scowl gracing his face.

House's concentration broke and he missed the ball as it came hurtling toward him and hit him in the chest. He had thought about joining the blonde couple for dinner, just to get his mind to stop running at a hundred miles a minute, but he had not considered that they would have invited Cuddy and her male friend. Now he wasn't so sure if he actually wanted to go. If there wasn't a reason keeping him from going before there definitely was one now.

"I have a date with Candy that night and she's bringing a friend, a two for the price of one deal, can't resist that in these hard times."

"So you're really not interested to see how Cuddy will deal with you and Seth being in the same place at the same time?"

"No," and with that Wilson knew the conversation was over, House was not going to talk about it any longer. He had made up his mind and nothing it seemed was going to change it in the near future. The oncologist was however worried by his friend's lack of reaction to the news that their boss was going to be at the dinner with her friend, it was not like House to pass up an opportunity like that.

As soon as the words left Wilson's mouth, the woman in question walked into House's office, a can of Coke in her left hand and his Reuben in her right. She placed both on his glass table, looking at him intently as she did so.

"Thought you might be hungry, since you spent so much time holed up in here," she informed him. He had not seen her in the past two weeks let alone heard her voice, and when spoke to him now; it set off a burning feeling of desire in his chest. God he had missed her, how could he have thought he would survive without her; without the runt – now that he knew what it was like to have her around him? But there was absolutely no way he could have told her that, so he did what he did best, he pushed her away.

Four hours later House was still sitting in his office, Wilson had left a long time ago but not before scolding the diagnostician about his repulsive behaviour toward their boss, and more importantly their friend, but he was more puzzled about the lack of reaction House had when he heard Cuddy and Seth were invited to the dinner as well. House had long ago given up playing with is oversized tennis ball and had taken to twisting a rubber band between his fingers. His four lackeys had returned about half an hour ago, after they correctly diagnosed their patient with his help of course and were seated in the next room, as they kept themselves busy and waited until their boss gave them permission to leave. He noticed as Kutner and Thirteen occasionally stole glances at him, while Foreman and Taub remained indifferent and unconcerned about his mood.

The sky had darkened considerably by the time House realised it was way past normal working hours. His disciples were still seated at the glass table in the conference room adjoining his office as they awaited his permission to leave, but House did not feel inclined to let them go at that point. Instead he turned his chair to face his computer screen, pulled out a bottle of vodka and a glass tumbler from the cabinet in front of him and placed it noisily on his table, making sure the four people in the other room heard it and looked up at him. He knew they would not ask him about it, but they would be curious enough to steal glances at him every so often. He unscrewed the cap and lifted the bottle to his mouth, ready to take a swig of the colourless liquid when he heard her voice. At first he thought it was just a figment of his imagination, he was prone to having hallucinations, and so he didn't take it seriously, but then he heard it for the second time, and he knew it was real.

"I didn't think your boss would allow you to drink on work premises, and if he did, then I suggest you save some for me, I have had two really crappy weeks" she walked toward him, smiling all the while.

House resisted the urge to grin from ear to ear in response to her smile, she was partly the reason he was so miserable for the last two weeks; he was not going to let her off so easily. He examined her closely, drank her in, she was definitely what he needed right now. The bottom half of her body was clad in a tight black leather mini skirt, which fit her like a second skin, and knee high, four inch stiletto heeled black leather boots. Her black and red, form-fitting Captain Morgans T-shirt rode up her abdomen, showing her pale skin and one of the small purple bruises she didn't think he'd noticed, but tried to cover with her black bikers leather jacket all the same. His expression softened a bit and he motioned for her to come closer to him, he wanted to make sure she was real and not just a figment of his over-active imagination.

"I take you missed me these last two weeks," she said playfully as she closed the distance between them, settled herself between him and the table and removed the vodka bottle from his grasp.

"And what exactly gave you that idea?" he asked, his tone brimmed with cockiness.

"Your pupils are dilated, your heart rate increased ten fold since I walked into your office and your breathing just got shallower. I would say that's enough proof," Maya grinned slyly at him, "but if you wanted to know for sure then I suggest you look at your lap." With that House looked down and he knew she had him; there was no way anyone could miss that.

"So what do you suggest we do to get rid of it?"

"Oh, I can think of a few things, though I don't think you want an audience for it. Maybe we should head somewhere private."

Damn she was good; she was not even here for a full fifteen minutes and she had got him to smile at least thrice, and for someone to make House smile, it was definitely an achievement. He stood up slowly from his seat, and that was when he noticed the deep cut above her right eye, and the fading bruise on her right cheek. He lifted his hand and caressed the wounded flesh tenderly, before he settled his focus on the gash above her left eye.

"Who and when?" It was three words but from the steel glint in his gaze Maya knew exactly what he meant, his playful tone was replaced with one of total seriousness.

"It's really not what you think, Greg, and besides I don't want to have this conversation with five people staring at me through your glass walls." House looked up to see four very interested people staring unashamedly at him and one extremely pissed off boss glaring daggers at the woman standing before him. He had totally forgotten his lackeys were still in the next office, only now they were joined by Cuddy who certainly did not look impressed with his new visitor.

"I should take a closer look at it, just in case," his tone offered no space for discussion, and he grabbed his stuff, pulled her from the relaxed position on the table and headed out of his office without a word to the five people who stared open-mouthed at him, as he exited.

"I've been through worse before, Greg, I'll survive," she tried to get him to drop it but House would not listen, so she changed the subject. "Besides I'm only here for a short while, so enjoy my company while you have the chance, Stud."

"Well now since you brought it up, how would you like a pass to a free meal and alcohol on Saturday evening?"

"Are you asking me out on a date, Greg?" he loved the way she said his name.

"No, Chase is paying for it, so we shouldn't decline the invite," he said as though it should have been obvious to her.

"Fine, but it'll come at a price," she smiled at him as they both walked out of the building.

* * *

So there you have it. Leave a review on your way out

Pwease….


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story, it really means a lot to me. Sorry I haven't been posting as regularly as I had planned to because things keep coming up. Also this chapter took a bit longer because I was out of the country and unfortunately did not take my laptop with me. But I started working on it as soon as I got back and here it is, just for you. Hope you guys enjoy it.

* * *

Chapter 10

Cameron had called her earlier that day, just to confirm their reservations and informed Cuddy at the same time that she didn't need to worry about formal clothing. The eating house they were going to was not some high class, over priced restaurant; instead it was a laid back, place where people could actually enjoy themselves, a place House would be comfortable in. It was almost time to leave and suddenly she had an uneasy feeling flow through her; what if House actually took Chase and Cameron up on the invitation and showed up for once, what would she then do.

Saturday evening came all too quickly for Cuddy and she wished that for some reason she could turn back time and change whatever it was that had screwed up her relationship with House. She had already told Chase and Cameron that she would be coming, with a partner, so there was no way she could back out now. She applied one last coat of lipstick, blotted her lips on a tissue and she was ready. Kutner had arrived an hour early and Cuddy was grateful because it gave her the extra time to get ready. She made her way to the living room and she heard Kutner suck in his breath as he looked up at her. Even in casual clothing she looked absolutely gorgeous.

Seth was seated on the couch trying, without success, to get Rachel to actually talk to him, when Cuddy saw him. She didn't miss the relived look on his face when she entered the room. It seemed Rachel just was not interested in that man, no matter how hard he tried. She handed Kutner a list of instructions he was to follow for the evening regarding Rachel's supper and bedtime, and warned him that if Rachel was not in bed by the time she returned, he would be doing clinic duty every day for the next six months. Cuddy then greeted her daughter good bye with a warning to behave while Dr Kutner was there, but she knew it was useless, because like House, when he actually did watch Rachel, Kutner indulged Rachel in anything and everything she wanted to do.

"You look amazing," Seth complimented her as soon as the doors to his Volvo were closed and he was out of earshot, it was not that he was shy to compliment Cuddy, but he didn't like the public displays of affection most other people seemed to like.

"You clean up well too," she replied as she took him in. He was dressed in black pants, black loafers, a charcoal long sleeved shirt with the top button undone, and a cool grey woollen jersey, over his shirt. His blue eyes were sparkling and his dimples were showing as he smiled. His hair was an arranged mess atop his head, which made him look younger than he actually was, and Cuddy thought this hairstyle suited him more than the usual side parted one. She made a mental note to tell him that when they got home after dinner…

The conversation on the ride to the eating house was relaxed and flirty but as they neared the place Cuddy felt the butterflies swirling in her belly. Her nervousness was allayed however when she didn't see either House's car or his motorcycle in the parking lot and she loosened up a bit. Seth parked the car in a spot near the entrance and they walked toward the restaurant, Cuddy's hand firmly grasped in his.

"Looking for someone in specific?" Seth asked as they walked into the restaurant, his hand now resting reassuringly on the small of her back. Wilson, Amber, Chase and Cameron were already seated at one of the table on the quieter side of the eating place, all of them deep in conversation. Cameron was the first to notice them; she walked over and led them to their table, moving over to make a space for them at the round table. Cuddy looked around the restaurant, taking in the easy and relaxed atmosphere, the friendly patrons and wait-staff and most importantly the lack of a formal dress code, which allowed her more peace of mind than she hoped.

The fact that the place was packed on a Saturday evening was not surprising to her, seeing as it was the only day most working people had to go out and enjoy themselves. Most of the diners were young adults either fresh from college or maybe their first two years of working in the real world and Cuddy was happy for them for the time they had set aside to have some form of a private life, a life beyond the doors of the work place.

They chatted for almost three quarters of an hour, with Wilson, Chase and Seth talking about cars, sports and the stock markets, while the women chatted about the men and their lack of interest in anything that didn't involve sports, cars and women. Cuddy was the first to notice the difference in the atmosphere a few minutes later, and she looked up, only to see House and his date for the evening walking toward their table, their fingers interlaced and House's free hand gripping his cane securely. It looked like they were having a very intimate conversation between them, with House's face very close to hers and smiling warmly at his companion; and Cuddy felt her chest tighten at the sight of House with another woman, and the fact that he had actually come out on a 'date' with her.

She kept her attention on the pair as they neared the table and saw as the woman placed her hand on House's chest in what looked like an attempt to calm him down. House leaned in to whisper something in her ear and the hot ball of jealousy shot up from her gut and she felt the insane urge to slap the pair. She tried to calm herself down by counting from one to ten in her head, but it was to no avail, and she was provoked more when the woman pulled up her chair and seated herself between Seth and House. This was not turning out to be the happy evening she hoped it would have been.

0 o 0 o 0

House had been unsuccessful in getting Maya to tell him where exactly she had got those bruises from and while he hated not knowing what the hell was going on with this mysterious woman who had entered his life so suddenly, he knew he had to be patient with her. They were sitting in his lounge watching a movie that neither of them was very interested in, both of them lost deep in thought and wondering just what exactly the future had in store for them. It was not like either of them believed in fate or destiny, both of them knowing equally well just how screwed up their lives were, without believing that some higher power was going to take them out of their miseries.

They were brought out of their thoughts by House's ringing phone, but House being his usual self didn't bother to answer it, instead he let whoever was calling him leave a message. He smiled when he heard Chase's Australian come through informing him that the dress code for the evening was casual and that he really did not have to wear the monkey suit Cameron insisted on the evening before. Also the reservation was for half past seven and if House would actually show up on time that would be great too. Maya glanced at the watch on the wall and noted that they had less than two hours to get ready.

"I should go and get ready," she said as she stood up from her seat, and House looked up at her, still not talking to her. He had refused to speak to her once she decided that her injuries were not his concern and how she got them was not up for discussion. "That is, if you still want me to be your date." She was not going to spend an evening in the company of people she barely knew, just because House had asked her two nights ago, and besides, she didn't see why she had to be there if the man in question was not even speaking to her.

It was the same thought that was running through House's mind and he knew he was being a jerk, she was right; it really was not any of his business what she did when she was away, and he didn't have any right to be angry with her for refusing to tell him. It was not like they were in a relationship or anything like it. He pondered over her statement and finally made up his mind that she was right, and he truly did not want to attend that dinner alone.

"See you in two hours then," he offered her a small smile, his blue eyes twinkling playfully and she knew that was his way of apologizing for his behaviour. She returned his smile and waltzed out of his apartment and to own, ready to take on whatever was going to be thrown her way. She had seen the way the five people in House's office had been staring at her, and she while she was not the least bit afraid, she would still need to be on high alert.

An hour and three quarters later when Maya returned to House's apartment, dressed and ready to go, House was still lounging around in a pair of track pants and a worn grey T-shirt. He still had yet to take a shower and pick out what he was going to wear for the evening. Yes, Chase had mentioned that the dress code was casual but that did not mean House could go there looking like a he just woke up. She opened the hot water in the shower and shooed him into it, not flinching at the glare he sent in her direction and closed the door behind her after she exited the bathroom. He emerged from the shower fifteen minutes later, with water dripping from his hair that was plastered to his face, and just a towel wrapped around his waist.

He heard her heave in a deep breath as he entered the lounge where she was seated and waiting for him to come out, fully dressed of course,

But he was House and House never stuck to the rules. If him dripping with water and almost naked was not a turn on for her, he had no idea what was, and if she was affected by the way he looked at the moment she clearly showed no sign of it, she had an excellent poker face.

"I don't have anything to wear," he whined, causing her to look up at him in surprise. If anything House had enough T-shirts to rival any teenager she knew, and he looked good in almost anything he wore. Still, she got up from the sofa and followed him into his bedroom where he stood in front of his open closet looking for some decent clothing he could wear tonight. She took a quick look at his numerous pairs of jeans and T-shirts and eventually settled on his attire for the evening. The diagnostician finally made his grand entrance into his lounge three quarters of an hour later, much to Maya's displeasure, but the fact that he had decided to actually wear the clothing she picked out for him, consoled her a bit.

The pair reached the restaurant half an hour later, and Maya scolded House on his understanding of being fashionably late, which according to his standards was at least an hour and a half late. She brought her car to a stop in a parking spot near the entrance of the eating house, she watched as House heaved in a deep breath, knowing he was bracing himself for the evening. He felt her place a hand on his arm and he turned to face her questioning gaze. He stayed silent though; he did not want to tell her that just maybe this was all a mistake and that he had only agreed to come to show her off, and now he wasn't so sure about the whole idea.

"It's only for a few hours, Greg, and if you still feel like leaving then I will make an excuse within an hour to leave, is that okay with you?" he nodded his head in approval of her plan but remained seated in his seat, he didn't even attempt to get out of the vehicle. Maya jumped out from the driver's side and walked over to his side; she opened the door and waited for him to step out, impatiently tapping her foot on the tarred ground.

They walked into the restaurant together, House threading his fingers through hers the minute they passed the entrance. He hated attending things like this, where he was somewhat forced to be someone he was not, and it made him very uncomfortable. He knew Maya had sensed his uneasiness as soon as he linked their hands, and she looked up at him, trying to assure him with just a look that she was not going to abandon him half way through the night. He felt her place her hand on his chest, and she murmured words of encouragement in his ear to calm him down, and she offered him a smile.

Maya spotted Chase and Wilson instantly, having seen the two of them on previous occasions, and led House toward the table where his colleagues were seated. She took a look around the place and assessed their surroundings while she pulled out two chairs for her and House to sit on, respectively. House watched as Maya seated herself between him and Seth, and offered the dimple faced man a warm smile, and House gripped the edge of the table harder in response to her action. House was also aware of the looks the male patrons of the restaurant were throwing in Maya's direction and he didn't like it one bit. If anything, he wished he had never asked her to come to this damn dinner in the first place.

Before any of them could introduce themselves, Maya had already greeted Chase and Wilson by name, and managed sneaking in a wink and a risqué smile in the blonde haired man's direction.

"You must be Cameron, and Amber," she continued and smiled at the two blonde women who were scowling slightly at the fact that their counterparts already had a meeting with the woman and had somewhat forgot to mention it, and House had to smile at the thought of Amber actually laying it on to Wilson for not telling her about Maya.

Cuddy had to smile slightly to herself when she saw both Cameron and Amber looking murderously at the counterparts when House's date greeted them personally by name, indicating she had already met them before tonight. Cameron looked like she was about ready to stick a fork into the girl's eye when she offered a smile and a wink in Chase's direction. The dean was aware of House's lingering presence behind the woman, and was mindful of his hand resting on her lower back, as a sign of possession, and just when she thought she couldn't take any more of it, the woman turned to face her, offering her a friendly smile that reached her eyes.

"Bambi," Maya stuck out her hand in Cuddy's direction and grinned widely, "and you must be Doctor Lisa Cuddy," she said and waited for the older woman's reaction. If it bothered her that the woman House had clearly paid to irritate her for the night was indeed a hooker, Cuddy gave no indication of it; she merely shook the younger woman's hand and instead glared at her employee, who she noted was taking much pleasure in her discomfort.

She was saved from doing something irrational when the waiter came up to them to take their orders for the main meal, and House being his usual pestering self had to complain that he was not offered any starters. Cuddy opened her mouth to scold him, as she did on so many other occasions when he behaved like a child, but she was beaten to it when she saw 'Bambi' turn to him and explain that it was his own fault he missed it because he wanted to fashionably late. To Cuddy's surprise House conceded and proceeded to order his drink and let his dinner companion order his meal for him. The rest of them placed their orders as well and once the waited departed the conversation started up again.

A while into the conversation Maya turned to face the good looking blue eyed, dimpled man sitting on the left of her. He looked like he was having a less than nice time and she for some reason felt sorry for him. Maya felt Cuddy's gaze on her, but it did not deter her from introducing herself to the man.

"Hi, I'm Maya Tyler."

"Seth Reid," he offered in response and kissed the back of her hand, making both House and Cuddy frown with displeasure at his action, but Maya paid no attention to it.

"I thought your name was Bambi," Cuddy asked, her cool grey eyes now focused on the woman still talking to Seth.

"No, I just thought it would be fun to see you reaction when I told you that," Maya admitted making Cuddy scowl even more.

"Actually my name is Maya Tyler, and I'd like to take the opportunity to let you know that despite my appearance today and two days ago, and despite what you would like to believe, I am not a hooker," she informed the rest of their tablemates. With that out of the way, she turned to face House, who looked at her with renewed interest. She never ceased to surprise him, with every day that passed, because there was always something new he discovered about her.

"Enjoying yourself, Greg?" she asked softly, her face was inches away from his, so she could feel his breath cascading down her neck. She slowly raised one hand and placed it on his cheek, running the pad of her thumb on the five 'o clock shadow she banned him from shaving off earlier that day, not that he was too keen on getting rid of it either. House stole a quick glance at his boss, and couldn't help the smirk that formed on his lips at her furrowed brow toward him.

"Yes, definitely for the moment, though I think it could get better," he replied just as softly, moving his face even closer to hers, taking Maya by surprise. House pinned his gaze on hers and he knew she knew exactly what thought process was going on in his head; the only problem was if she continued with his game, it would not end well for any of the people involved. The hushed silence that surrounded the table brought House and Maya out of their cocoon and House felt his neck and cheeks burning with heat. He looked up to see Wilson, Chase and Amber grinning at him, Cameron and Cuddy looking at him with extremely concerned expressions.

He was saved from commenting or defending his actions as the waiters arrived with their food and the rest of their drinks, and House dug in with gusto. The food was good even for vegetarian, he had to admit, and Cuddy caught him stealing a few spoonfuls of the stir fry from Maya's plate. The comfortable silence was broken when Maya suddenly looked up and directly in Cameron's direction. She assessed the blonde haired woman carefully taking in as much as she could before she got to know why exactly they had been invited for dinner.

"Cameron," the immunologist looked up at the sound of her name. "So how far along are you?" Maya asked, without thinking,

There was a moment of complete silence, followed by the nervous clearing of his throat by Chase and finally Cameron spoke up.

"Twenty two weeks," she said shyly.

They all looked incredulously at her, she hadn't picked up any weight at all, she hadn't been moody, Cuddy would have heard about it from the ER staff or patients, and her baby bump hadn't even made an appearance yet. Surely they could not have missed something as big as this. Wilson was the first to congratulate the expecting couple and it only made Cameron blush more that she already was. House was the last to offer his hand, his mind was more occupied with the thought that just from one glance at her, Maya had seen what they had missed for four entire months.

After the noise had died down Chase spoke up.

"Yes, we wanted to tell you all at once, and we wanted to inform House and Cuddy that we have chosen them to be Nathan's god parents."

"Seriously?" House could not believe his ears, clearly he was mistaken, he was in no way prepared to look after a kid and they knew that better than anyone. Cuddy looked up uncertainly at her employee who was clearly having as much trouble as she was taking in the news.

"You do realise House has no liking for people, let alone kids?" Wilson asked disbelievingly, though the sight of a sleeping House, holding securely onto Rachel a few weeks ago made its way to his mind, but he said nothing about it.

"We did take that into consideration and we still want House and Cuddy to be Nate's godparents," Chase repeated, his tone suggesting that nothing anyone said would make them change their mind.

Maya saw the flash in Seth's eyes and it confused her at first because from her initial assessment of the man, he didn't fit into the type that would get jealous or angered easily, maybe she was wrong, but her gut feeling told her she was not. She decided to play on what she saw, and she changed the subject immediately.

"So Seth, how long have you and Dr Cuddy been seeing each other?"

A little over a year, but we've been friends for a long time."

"Almost a decade right? You met her while she was in her final year in Med School and Michigan and you would come to campus to hang out with a few friends."

"Yeah," his tone held both awe and surprise that some neither he nor Cuddy had met before knew of their relationship and how far back it went.

"Was she a just as much of a buzz kill then as she is now?" House smiled at his boss.

"I wouldn't call it that, she was just more focused on getting her degree and getting out of there. But there were times she would party all night long, I could count the number of times we did that on one hand," Seth smiled at Cuddy, remembering the very few all night partied they attended together.

"Maybe it was the company she had," Maya offered and now it was Seth's turn be confused.

"Maybe she met someone before she met you, maybe she fell in love with him, but he left and broke her heart and maybe the only way she could forget about him was to distract herself with studying harder and working longer hours," Maya continued casually, while watching Cuddy's face for any sort of reaction that would give her an indication of how she felt.

House looked over at his boss and found that she could not meet his gaze, indicating that whatever Maya had just revealed was indeed the truth, but how the hell did she know about it; it was a closely guarded secret that only House and Cuddy shared, so just where and how did Maya find out about it?

"That must have been almost twenty years ago!" Wilson defended his boss.

"Yes it was," Maya confirmed.

"You say that like you think Cuddy is still in love with that man," even Cameron was confused.

"What I think doesn't matter does it? What matters is how Dr Cuddy feels."

"It was a teenage crush," the strong, unfaltering sound of Cuddy's voice surprised them all, but Maya could see from her body language that she was not as confident of her statement as she wanted them to believe.

"So what you're saying is that if he told you right here right now that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you, you would walk away from him?"

"Yes," the word was whispered but everyone seated at the table heard it.

House felt Maya grasp his hand in hers and squeezed it reassuringly, if only to make him feel better. Granted the conversation did not go the way she planned it but she had discovered more about the woman House was in love with than she had expected. She turned to face him, "Are you okay?" she asked him softly. He nodded his head, and she understood when she saw his jaw clench and felt him squeeze her hand harder than normal, he needed to get out of Cuddy's proximity as soon as possible. She rose from her seat and went to talk to who looked like the manager of the place and returned a few minutes later with a smile on her face.

The table was finally cleared of all dishes and Maya watched as the waiters converted the main part of the restaurant was turned into a dance floor. The slow, smooth music coming from the speakers was enough to get Maya off her chair and convince House to get onto the dance floor with her and a few other couples who were already swaying to the beat. Once they were away from the rest of the group House could relax for a few minutes. He pulled her closer to him and held onto her waist as securely as he could, seeing as he didn't want to be dancing with the help of his cane. House was the only one not aware of the pair of steel grey eyes, watching him from the far end of the room, while he swayed the night away with the beautiful woman in his arms. He would've danced all night long with her, but his thigh was beginning to ache and he knew he needed to rest it a bit before the pain became unbearable.

During their dance his phone had started to ring and he growled when he saw Kutner's name blinking furiously on the screen. Not wanting to talk to anyone at the time, he handed over his phone to Maya and heard the one sided conversation. After hanging up, Maya told him the reason for Kutner's call and House knew there was no decision to make, he was leaving now, whether they liked it or not.

Cuddy watched with a burning feeling in her chest, as the couple walked hand in hand, smiling happily at each other and disappeared into the night. She hadn't seen House smile as much as he did tonight and she was glad that he had found someone who would keep him happy for a long time, but she couldn't quell the feeling of unadulterated feeling of jealousy that took over her when she had watched them dancing earlier that evening. It was as though Maya knew what House was thinking and she made it look so effortless to dance with him.

0 o 0 o 0

Maya turned to face House who was, for once, sitting quietly in the passenger seat, his hands twirling and twisting a rubber band between his fingers, and his jaw clenching and unclenching as she drove toward their destination. They had already been on the road for ten minutes and House had yet to make a comment about well anything. She thought he would have already complained about Cuddy and Seth, or Cameron and Chase, but the diagnostician kept his gaze on the road ahead and his mouth shut as he processed the events of the evening in his mind. If she didn't know him any better, she was sure that he was somewhat angered by her actions, but there was no way she had planned what had happened earlier, and if she had seen it coming, she would have avoided the whole thing in the first place.

"Is there a specific reason you're ignoring me?" she asked after a few more minutes of tensed silence.

"No," he offered no other explanation and continued to stare into the darkness.

"You haven't said anything in the last ten minutes, and for you, that's a record," she joked but that still did not prompt a verbal response from him.

"Greg," she sighed tiredly hoping he would tell her what exactly he was upset about, it was not to be, as she pulled up into the driveway of the cream coloured house and switched off the engine.

House didn't even wait until the engine died; he simply pushed the door open and hurriedly exited the vehicle. He needed to be away from her, he needed to think, but that would happen later, he had more important things to deal with now. He limped up to the doorway and pulled out the spare key that was hidden under the pot plant, and fed it into the keyhole. A few seconds later he walked into the living room, to only to be met with his lackey, Kutner, covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to drown out the screaming that was coming out of the next room. House hit Kutner on the shins to alert him that he had arrived and that Kutner should follow him, quietly.

He made his way slowly to where the heart piercing screaming was coming from, not wanting to scare the little girl any more than she already was. He stopped at the doorway of Cuddy's bedroom, when he saw Rachel sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard, her little chest expanding and contracting violently as sobs wracked her body, and her cheeks stained with tears she had already shed. He felt his heart constrict at her pain and he wanted to just pull her into his arms and hold her close to his chest, but he was House and he didn't do things like that, so he stood rooted to the spot and waited for some sort of sign that would spur him on.

Maya watched as House stood still, fearing to go inside and actually calm the screaming child. She knew he wanted with all his heart to help her, but he was too stubborn to do it on his own, he needed help, and nothing else mattered now except for Rachel. She pushed Kutner aside gently and laid a hand on House's forearm, breaking his attention and he looked at her, his eyes pleading for advice.

"Go to her House, she wants you, no she needs you," she told him so softly not even Kutner who was standing three feet away could hear her. House looked at her uncertainly, but she nodded her head in encouragement and he took one careful step forward. Rachel looked warily at him as he made his way toward her, but she had stopped screaming at the top of her lungs and it prompted him to walk a bit faster. When he finally reached her, he held out his hands toward the kid, palms facing up, like he remembered Maya doing, and he didn't have to wait long before Rachel stood up and ran into his waiting embrace.

He quickly tuned around to see if his lackey had witnessed the action, but the only person standing in the passage was Maya; Kutner was nowhere to be seen. He felt her tiny hands clenching his shirt in her fist, and her face buried in the groove of his neck.

"Its okay kid, Daddy's here now," the words flowed out of his mouth and it was only when he saw Maya's smile did he realise what he has just said.

Kutner returned with a glass of warm milk and honey as Maya had asked him to bring, but Rachel was fast asleep in House's grasp. With Rachel in one hand and his cane in the other House made his way out of the bedroom and toward the front door. He heard Kutner saying something to him, but nothing registered, he was taking the sprog home with him, whether her mother liked it or not.

"Do not tell Cuddy that House has Rachel, if you can't think of anything lie to her, or get Wilson to help you," Maya said as she followed House out the door with Rachel's bag filled with a few clothes for the sleeping child.

"But," Kutner started to protest, but the scathing look he received from Maya was enough to tell him not to test her.

"If I find out anyone else knows about this I will kill you," it was not a threat; it was a promise and Kutner and no intention of messing with the woman standing in front of him.

Twenty minutes later, they were at House's apartment, Rachel laying on top of House's chest as he lay in bed, breathing deeply.

"Good night, Greg," Maya whispered to him, and placed a kiss in his forehead before she left his apartment.

* * *

So thats Chapter 10 for you. According to my plan I think there are only two more chapters left, but things and ideas keep changing so I might be wrong

Read and review please.

Oh yes just one question. for the end would you guys prefer an end with closure or a what-if? I have planned for both, but I want to know what you guys think

Thanks and enjoy the weekend


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**A/N:** Wow I think this is the fastest update I ever did, you guys only had to wait a week. This chapter is longer than any of the others, and I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This really was a fun chapter to write. Also, this chapter somehow took an unexpected turn, one I had not anticipated when I planned it out, but I kinda like it, so I'm going to see if I can work with it… Now enough with my babbling, read, enjoy and review, please. Oh yes not beta-ed so all mistakes belong to me.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Cuddy was seated on the sofa in her living room, her laptop placed securely in her lap, pencil behind her ear and her eyes glued to the screen on the television that was mounted on the wall opposite where she sat. While her gaze was focused entirely on the LCD, her attention was some place else. House had avoided her for the last two and a half weeks, which did not surprise her much, seeing as he had spent the last few months avoiding her for some odd reason, but what really got her attention was that he had not come barging into her office and telling her in great detail about his night with the woman he had brought to the dinner. For House, bragging about his one night stands and the women he claimed to sleep with; showed that they were of no importance to him, but his lack of bragging about this one set off alarm bells in Cuddy's mind.

All she saw was that House had received a call, which he declined to answer, as usual, and made his date talk to whoever was on the other end of the line. A few minutes later, his stance had changed and his mood had soured even more than before as he led the dark eyed woman out of the eating house and out of Cuddy's sight without even giving her an explanation, not that she needed one, but House usually told either her or Wilson about everything he did. The only thought that was running through the Dean's mind was that House couldn't wait to get out of that place and he couldn't wait to get laid.

She and Seth had taken their leave soon after; when Wilson was finally convinced that the diagnostician was not coming back and that him leaving was not all part of some bigger plan. The drive back home was not as easy going as the previous one, and while Seth had said nothing indicating to her that he needed an explanation about her answer earlier that night, she knew she was going to have to give him one. She owed him at least that; seeing as they were friends for almost as long as she and House. They would talk about it as soon as they were inside her house and after she had checked on her daughter whom she hoped was fast asleep and ten thirty on a week night.

What she had planned to do and what had actually happened when they finally reached her home were two very different things. She spotted the neon green post it Kutner had stuck to the wall as soon as she entered her front door informing her that Rachel had been having a hard time falling asleep and that he had taken her out for a drive, and if she was not home by ten Cuddy should not worry; he would drop the kid off at her Uncle Jimmy's house as soon as she was fast asleep. Cuddy tried calling Kutner but all she got was his voicemail, and she swore she would make him to extra clinic duty for the stunt he pulled.

Fortunately for him, Wilson had dropped Rachel off early the next morning, and while Cuddy was still worried about her daughter, it did not deter her thoughts of ripping Kutner's head off his shoulders for taking the decision he did without asking her first. When she questioned Rachel about her stay at Uncle Jimmy's the little girl looked quizzically at her mother, and continued on to her room to unpack her stuff, and Cuddy was immediately reminded of House when he didn't want to talk about something. She decided to let it go for now, thinking the little girl would tell her all about it when she was ready... Little did she know…

When Monday finally rolled around, Rachel still hadn't told her mother about her sleep over and Wilson's, even after Cuddy had pestered her with questions about Wilson and Amber. Eventually Rachel picked up her small keyboard that she had grown so fond of in the last few weeks, and started playing. Cuddy was about to yell at her to stop with the noise, but a few minutes later she heard the flawless tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and she couldn't help but smile, her daughter had finally got it. It was also at that unfortunate moment Kutner walked into her office and as soon as Cuddy saw him her smile was replaced by glare.

"Three months of extra clinic duty, for your behaviour on Saturday evening" and before he could protest, she cut him off, "and add another month for every word that comes out of your mouth." That was more than enough for Kutner to keep his mouth shut and walk straight back out of her office. It had been a normal, uneventful week after that, well as normal as one could have with Gregory House as an employee. She didn't know whether she should have been happy for him, since he had found a woman, other than her, who could put up with the man or if she should be angry and jealous that he was actually interested in aforementioned woman.

And here she was on a week night; enjoying the quiet easy atmosphere she and Seth had finally managed to rediscover after the disaster two weeks ago. She had put Rachel to bed almost an hour ago, and she was finally ready to have the talk she so desperately wanted to have with him, telling him exactly where their relationship was headed now that House had found his dark haired heroine, and there was nothing she could do about it. She turned to face the handsome man sitting beside her on the sofa, admiring his dimples as he smiled at something funny on the television screen and she had to remember to breathe when he finally focused him gaze on her.

"Seth, there's something I need to tell you," she started uncertainly, not used to having to explain herself to other people in her personal life.

As the next sentence formed in her brain, both their ears were assaulted with a glass shattering screech. Cuddy stood up immediately and ran to her daughter's room, with Seth right behind her. She came to a stop at the door, looking into the room for the source of the noise and saw Rachel standing in the centre of her bed, hugging her Donald Duck blanket tightly around her small body, her face puffy from crying, the tear streaks running down her cheeks, and her eyes bloodshot. Cuddy took a small careful step inside the room, expecting her child to stop crying when her mother entered, instead it only provoked the five year old to sob louder.

Unconsciously, Cuddy pulled out her cell phone and dialled Wilson's number, hoping the oncologist was not already fast asleep or in the middle of something to be disturbed. Calling Wilson was second nature to her, her having had to do it on many occasions when Rachel was younger and Cuddy just could not deal with the fussy toddler any more. Thankfully he answered after the second ring and he didn't have to wait for Cuddy to explain the situation to him for him to get into his car and come over right away.

Even the arrival of Wilson and Amber did nothing to allay the child's crying and Cuddy was fast losing her mind and patience. Rachel was five years old, what the hell would have scared her enough to keep her wailing for three quarters of an hour. Cuddy had tried everything she could think of to calm her daughter down, but nothing worked and she was all out of options. There had to be something that would work, something that did not involve sedating her with some sleeping drug as Amber had suggested, though Cuddy was finding the idea more appealing with every second that passed.

"Did you try calling House and asking him to come over?" Wilson asked her and Cuddy looked at him as though he had just grown another head. House didn't even like her kid, why the hell would he leave his apartment and his woman to take care of her kid at eleven thirty at night?

"Are you trying to help me or kill me?" Cuddy asked in reply.

"I know it sounds insane, but call him, just to humour me," he tried to convince his boss, and while she looked sceptically at him, she pulled out her phone nonetheless and called the diagnostician.

She was not surprised when there was no answer on his cell phone, but with Wilson's prompting she called his home phone, and decided to leave him a message, just in case.

"House… I need you. Now" as she said the words her mind was transported back to the time she was still trying IVF and had asked House to give her the injections. She had called him out of the exam room, by poking her head through the crack of the door, as he was examining a patient.

"House, need you. Now" were all she said and him being himself looked at the woman in the room before wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and answering with his deepest voice, "Yes Mistress," and followed her to her office.

She was about to hang up but the sound of his voice coming through stopped her, hoping that he actually would be of help just this once. Her hopes were shattered however when she heard his response.

"Sorry I'm off the clock, though I'm sure if you call Wilson he'll come running as soon as he can." He left no space for debate but she tried anyway.

"House," she hated sounding the way she did, pleading for him to help her, but hell if it stopped her child from crying then plead was what she would do, and before she could say another word he had hung up. She sighed tiredly in defeat, she should not have expected anything more from him, he was never keen on her adopting Rachel anyway, and now five years later nothing had changed, he still hated her kid.

A long fifteen minutes followed before she heard the screech of tyres outside her home, followed by loud knocking on her front door. She looked out of her front room window, only to see shiny black sports car parked in her driveway. The knocking got louder and she hurried to answer the door, not even thinking about her safety as she yanked the door open and came face to face with the one person she was not expecting to see in a long time.

Cuddy looked dumbfounded at the dark haired woman standing on her doorstep, clearly it was not her day. She smiled stiffly at the woman, not in the mood to entertain whatever she and House had planned for the evening.

"Could you stop blocking the doorway, its cold outside and I'd actually like some peace and quiet," Cuddy heard House's voice, and a few minutes later she saw him as he stepped up on her porch just behind his new friend. The dean immediately moved out of the doorway and allowed them to enter her home.

0 o 0 o 0

Two and a half weeks had passed way too slowly for House, even though he had diagnosed and solved four cases in that fortnight and a half. Just like the last few weeks, he had avoided his blue eyed, sexy dressed boss, only talking to her if she came looking for him and no one else could discuss the issues at hand with her. All in all he had spoken to her only twice in sixteen days, not that he was counting, but hell he missed their banter, the sexual innuendos, just the sight of her all riled up because of something stupid he had said or done. He wanted her to realise what she was missing, he wanted to give her a glimpse of what exactly it would be like if she decided she really would walk away from him, and as much as he hated doing it to her, it was something that had to be done.

It would have been a lot easier if he had help and some guidance on how to avoid her without actually pissing her off, but the one person who actually knew about their relationship prior to the employer/employee once they currently shared had disappeared without as much as a note, and no indication of when she would return, or even if she would return. Well, it was not like he didn't deserve her cold treatment, he had behaved like a jackass on the ride home from both the restaurant and Cuddy's house. He had ignored her all the way, wanting to wallow in his pain and misery all by himself, unlike Cuddy she did not pester him into telling her what was going on in his head, she had put the little girl to bed, kissed him good night on his forehead and left. That was almost three weeks ago, and he still had not heard anything from her.

He had tried to divert his attention by creating havoc in the hospital, but he, Wilson and Cuddy knew his heart was not in it. The pranks he played were like child's play, though they definitely kept the 'She Devil' busy for the better part of the day when he actually decided to spend the day playing practical jokes on the clinic staff and patients.

Rachel and House had spent most of the morning learning to play the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star correctly and Rachel was excited when she finally got the tune right. Then they had breakfast which consisted of cereal for Rachel and a very strong cup of coffee for House. The rest of the late morning was spent watching Monsters VS Aliens, which had fast become Rachel's favourite DVD. House could not help but smile every time she giggled when she saw Dr Cockroach on the screen. He couldn't believe something so small amused her so much, and he filed the picture of her laughing heartily, in his mind so he could look at it when she was not around and he was missing her.

They were almost three quarter of the way through the DVD when Wilson arrived, sans Amber, to pick up Rachel and take her back to her mother. House wanted to protest, to keep her with him for longer but he knew there was no chance of that happening, Cuddy would kill him if she knew her daughter had spent the night and most of the morning with him and not Uncle Wilson as she was so wrongly informed. Well, then what Cuddy didn't know wouldn't hurt her, right? And he and Rachel had come to an agreement that they would not tell Cuddy about her spending time with him.

Kutner had come to him on Monday morning, claiming he was going to tell Cuddy about what had happened the night he was babysitting the runt, but House merely handed him an envelope addressed to him. House watched as Kutner pulled out the document from its jacket and waited as the younger doctor read it, a small smile gracing his lips when he saw Kutner's forehead wrinkle with frowning.

"Something wrong?"

"Your girlfriend knows I went to see Cuddy and has now rewarded me with doing one hundred hours of your clinic duty. I can consider this document as signed, sealed and delivered," he read from the page in his hands, "And Cuddy received a copy as well, so I will be in clinic if you need me," he said as he stalked off in anger.

House smiled to himself, he had no idea Maya would actually make good on her threat, well she had threatened to kill the man, and so House thought giving him clinic duty was a better punishment. That was almost a week ago.

House was now fast asleep on his sofa when the shrill ring of his cell phone cut into the peaceful silence of his apartment and woke him from the deep sleep he had fallen into. He had been sleeping less in the last two weeks, and while he knew exactly what the problem was and the solution for it, he was just too damn stubborn or proud to admit it, leaving him tired, moody, grumpy and meaner than ever. He lifted her device from the coffee table next to him and glanced at the blinking screen. 'She Devil' lit up the entire LCD and House groaned at the sight of it. What the hell could Lisa Cuddy want at this time of the night? By the time he bothered to answer it, she had hung up and predictably five seconds later his home telephone began to ring.

Sitting up and reaching for the cordless device on the opposite end of the sofa was too much of an effort for the man, so he waited for the machine and he hoped Cuddy would leave a message for him and then stop bothering him for the rest of the night. He needed his damn sleep and he was not going to let his nagging boss distract him from it… unless she showed up with an entirely different thought in mind. House shook his head to rid them of the thoughts and listened to the worried tone Cuddy used as she left her message.

"House I need you, Now!" was all he heard, and he was for some reason a memory of that made its way into his brain and he remembered when she had told him that a long time ago, and he had answered with a deep voiced "Yes Mistress." The thought made him smile for a second but it was quickly replaced with a frown when he heard the ear shattering shriek in the background and he knew exactly what was going on. The sprog had another nightmare, but this time it was okay because both her mother and Seth were there to comfort her, there was no need for him to run and save her… was there?

He picked up the receiver before she could hang up, "Sorry I'm off the clock, though I'm sure if you call Wilson he'll come as soon as he can," House told her after a moment of tense silence. He remembered the answer she had given Maya two weeks ago at the restaurant, if she was willing and eager to walk away from him then there was absolutely no reason he could not do the same thing to her. She had enough other people to help her out with the runt; she didn't want him around her anyway.

"House," he heard her plea but hung up before she could say another word to make him feel guilty or to change his mind. He had already been hurt by her two weeks ago, his wounds hadn't healed properly yet, he needed time to regroup before he could face her again. He had been sitting on his couch for a total of three minutes when the memory of Rachel's tear streaked face made its way, unbidden, in his head and he knew then his heart had already made the decision, wounds and scars be damned. He stood up with force and grabbed his cane and keys from the coffee table, as he made his way out of his apartment. He was mildly surprised when he saw the one person he was looking forward to seeing for an entire fortnight, outside his apartment door.

"Care to join me for a late night ride?" he asked suggestively and she turned to look at him, her black eyes showing no emotion.

"Aah, so I see you're over your childishness and you're ready to talk. That's great Greg, and in answer to your question I'm not interested thank you," while her words were soft and calm, House still felt like he had been slapped across his cheek. He knew he deserved that one, he had been a jerk to her, but he needed her help now, there was no way he was going to Cuddy's home without her. He had a feeling thought that anything he said she would dismiss as him being and ass, so he had to come up with something good.

"Was there something you needed?" he heard her ask when he still had not moved after a few minutes.

"Rachel had another nightmare, Cuddy just called me to come over," he said softly, figuring the truth would be best in this situation.

Maya looked up at him, saw the worry etched on his face and decided that him being a prick was not as important as calming a screaming, crying five year old down.

"We'll take my car, its too cold and dangerous to take your bike in this weather," House nodded and followed her to her car. He almost fell over when she came to a stop in front of a shiny, sexy black Audi R8 and unlocked the doors with the press of a button. A smooth, ten minute drive at sixty five miles per hour, and screeching tyres later they were parked in the driveway of one Doctor Lisa Cuddy's home. Maya was the first to exit the car and make her way to Cuddy's door. She knocked softly at first and when no one answered after a few minutes she knocked on the wooden door again. What she did not expect was to see Cuddy looking straight at her, shooting daggers in her direction with just her gaze. Thankfully House was not far behind and diffused the situation as best he could.

"Could you stop blocking the doorway, its cold outside and I'd actually like some peace and quiet," he said as he made his way to her front door and getting Maya out of Cuddy's immediate line of vision. He watched as Cuddy stepped aside and allowed the younger woman to enter her home, but he noted the glare she graced him with as he passed her on his way in.

H O U S E M . D .

Both House and Cuddy made their way to Rachel's room where she was now seated on the bed and still crying. The screaming had stopped about ten minutes ago, and while Cuddy had tried, from the doorway to calm her child down, Rachel would scream at sight of anyone even attempting to enter her room, even her mother, which was weird, to say the least.

"Rachel," House called out loud enough for the kid to hear, and immediately the little girl's head shot up, her eyes searching for the source of the sound.

"Are you telling me four grown adults could not get a ten pound kid to shut-up?" he asked them as they all followed him as he walked toward Rachel's room.

"Seriously?" He was confused, usually Rachel would stop crying at the sight of her mother, it was clearly not the case tonight, and he was not sure just how he was going to deal with it once Cuddy and Seth actually found out the truth about what had happened the weekend she had decided to leave the runt in Wilson's care. After what seemed like an eternity, House came to a halt, standing in the doorway leading to Rachel's room. He looked at her, taking in a tear streaked face, her red, puffy eyes, and her trembling lower lip.

"Greg, you're not helping," Maya scolded him loud enough for Cuddy to hear her though Cuddy gave no indication that she did.

"Well, serves them right for disturbing my night of pleasure," he replied cause Maya to roll her eyes. He was so full of himself at times.

"Hey Smurf," he greeted her from the doorway, making no attempt to enter her room just yet, she needed to calm down a bit more before he would take her on. He had been on the receiving end of one of her deafening screams before and he was not about to put himself trough that experience again. Much to Cuddy and Seth's surprise a small smile formed on the lips of the young child, and she locked eyes with House as he took one slow, tiny step forward.

When Rachel didn't start crying he took another step forward and when it prompted no crying reaction, he continued until he was standing at the side of her bed, leaning heavily on his cane, his gaze still foxed on hers. This time though he did not hold out his arms to her, but waited until she was ready to make the first move, he didn't want Cuddy or the others to know this had happened before. Rachel slowly stood up from her sitting position and walked over to where House was standing, and held out her arms to him, indicating that she wanted to be carried by him.

Cuddy watched, mesmerised, at the scene unfolding before her eyes, and she could not help the sudden tight feeling in her chest. This was what she had wanted for so long, and now when it finally happened it was too late, she had already given up on House, since he was so interested in the dark haired woman standing next to her. She had the sudden urge to walk over to the pair and pull her daughter out of his grasp, he had no right to just come in from nowhere and get close to Rachel, hoping to play the most important role in HER daughter's life. She had been trying to include him from the beginning in Rachel's life, whether it was a first word, or her first step, or anything, but House had always rejected the idea of him being a parent to the sprog, and she didn't see why he wanted to be a part of it now.

She unconsciously took one step forward, but was stopped when she felt a hand on her forearm, Cuddy looked to her right and saw that it was Maya's hand on her arm, and before she could say anything to her, Maya shook her head as though she had read Cuddy's thoughts and was disagreeing with the thought the older woman had not even two minutes ago.

They all watched as Rachel attached herself to House's chest, her head resting on his left shoulder, and her arms banded around his neck, holding onto him as though her life depended on it. He seated himself on her bed, facing away from their audience, not wanting any of them to hear his conversation with the rugrat.

"Hey kid, did you have a bad dream?" he asked softly, and Rachel nodded her head.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" This time the little girl shook her head, and a soft sob escaped her lips. Seeing that she was clearly not ready to talk about it, House changed the subject, hoping to get her mind off her nightmare and calm her down enough to get her to go back to sleep.

"I think we should go and watch Monsters VS Aliens again," he said and Rachel nodded her heard excitedly, as she let go of his neck, stepped off his lap and led him to the sofa in the lounge, leaving a stunned Cuddy gaping at their retreating backs. Fifteen minutes before the movie ended, Maya heard her phone ring and she sighed tiredly, she had to leave again, duty called or so she said. Wilson and Amber had left before the movie had even begun, Amber citing that she had to be at work early the next morning, but not before Amber had asked them a very good question.

"Why is it that Rachel calmed down only when House arrived, not even her mother could relax her?"

"Sometimes its just who you feel more comfortable with," came Maya's reply.

"Yes but House has never made an honest attempt at looking after Rachel, or even being a part of her life, so why is it that she only wanted him?" Cuddy did have a good point.

"You can't help who you love Dr. Cuddy, it just happens," came Maya's reply from across the room.

"Uh… just so you know, we're not really talking about love at first sight, we're talking about a five year old child," Amber stated.

"Yes I realise that, but what you have to take into consideration is that five year olds don't know how to lie about things like feelings and emotions. All Rachel wanted was someone who made her feel safe and protected, and well if it was House then what could he do, its not like he asked her to like him. And as far as love at first sight is concerned, I personally do not believe in it, however, if do think you can't help who you fall in love with. It happens like this," she said, snapping her fingers to state her point.

Rachel was already fast asleep, lying flush against House's chest, her one hand curled looped around his neck and the other holding tightly on the material of his shirt. She had kissed Rachel good night while Cuddy was in the kitchen preparing a warm cup of strong coffee for House. There was no way he would be able to move without disturbing the kid so Maya kissed him softly on the cheek, well aware of Seth's gaze on her, and a few seconds later Cuddy's as well. She moved up closer to him, until her mouth level with his ear, and whispered something to him, which automatically made him smile like a love-struck teenager and Cuddy felt the ball of jealousy rear its ugly head once again.

Maya picked up her jacket and made her way to the front door, ready to leave when she heard Seth call her from behind.

"Mind if I catch a ride with you? If we're going in the same direction?" he asked uncertainly and suddenly Maya had no idea what to do. If she said no well that was just not something she did, and if she said yes, it could cause a whole new set of problems for her.

"Yeah sure no problem, Where you headed?" she asked as she waited for him to fall into step with her, not missing the horrified look on Greg's face as she walked out the door. She was seated in her car watching as he kissed Cuddy goodnight and Maya laughed softly, cursing herself and god at her bad luck. A few more minutes passed before Seth made his way to her car and jumped into the passenger seat, his intense blue gaze now focused on her.

0 o 0 o 0

House remained seated on the couch, not wanting to wake the sleeping child on his chest, but his leg was starting to hurt and he needed to leave before Cuddy decided she needed to have a talk with him, which usually meant her talking and him pretending as though he was listening to her. Luck however was not on his side when he saw her come back into the lounge after greeting Seth good bye, and she settled down next to him on the couch.

"I should put Rachel to bed, she must be a strain on your thigh," he heard her say, and he nodded slightly. He Cuddy picked up her daughter from his grasp and made her way to Rachel's room where she placed the sleeping child on her bed and covered her with her favourite blanket. House stood silently in the doorway watching her, as she tucked the sprog in, kissed her good night and wished her sweet dreams. Cuddy left the bedside lamp on, casting the room in a soft glow, and not leaving it in total darkness just in case Rachel woke up screaming blue murder again.

She came to a stop in front of House, who was still standing in passageway leading to the lounge. There were no words to express the gratitude she felt when House had been able to calm her daughter down within minutes of his arrival, but she knew she had to say something. She took her hand in his and waited until he looked down at her, his full attention on her.

"Thank you, House" it was not much but there was nothing more she needed to say. He would not have accepted anything more from her, in fact the way he saw it he should have been thanking her for allowing him to spend time with the little bugger. He squeezed her hand gently, accepting her thank you and made his way back to the lounge. He picked up his coffee mug and took a sip of the now cool liquid, hoping it would help him with the one liners he knew he would need.

"I should leave too," he picked up his jacket and cane, and walked to the door, not really wanting to leave, but having no reason to stay.

"House, don't be silly, its late and its freezing outside, how are you going to get home? Besides your ride left almost fifteen minutes ago," she reminded him and that's when it sunk in – he had to spend the night at her home. Oh well, they were adults, they could deal with whatever happened or would not happen seeing as she was no longer interested in him. He took up his seat on the couch and started flipping through the channels looking for something to watch to occupy his mind.

"Sleeping on the couch is not an option House. Your leg is already hurting as it is, there's no reason to aggravate the pain more," Cuddy scolded him as she pulled the TV remote out of his grasp and switched off the TV. She held out her hand in his direction and waited until he looked up, suspiciously, at her. "We are adults House, we can share a bed without actually touching each other," she said while leading him slowly to her bedroom.

"I think you just a had a hidden agenda to get me here and into your bed," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

She threw a pair of sweat pants at him, and his old favourite Jack Daniels T-Shirt at him to change into so he could sleep comfortably and not have the denim material rubbing harshly on his thigh as he slept. Cuddy left him to it, and she stepped out of her room to check on Rachel for the last time, and to make sure all the doors and windows were locked, and then started her nightly routine of cleansing her face, and brushing her teeth before heading to bed.

When she returned to her room House was already laying in bed, his feet crossed at the ankles and his head resting on his hands. He watched her as she made her way to her side of the bed, and sat down on it. It seemed to him like she was having second thoughts about the sleeping arrangements and House was ready to take the couch. But Cuddy said nothing, she simply lay down beside him, making sure not to touch him, pulled the covers up, switched off her bedside lamp, greeted him good night and waited for sleep to claim her.

House was woken a few hours later when he felt a heavy weight on his chest and tickling on his chin. He looked down, only to see a mess of brown curls covering his chest, and as he tried to move, found that Cuddy's hand was draped over his abdomen, and one of her legs was wrapped around his left leg. It didn't take him long to figure out that he was basically trapped under her.

He was only awake for a few minutes when the easy silence was broken by her alarm clock, and Cuddy instinctively reached over House's chest to hit the snooze button, causing her chest to rub against his. The feel of a warm body under hers woke her up immediately and it took Cuddy a few minutes to remember she had offered House a place in her bed the previous night. She stayed draped over him for a few more minutes, enjoying the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, and it was more than enough to drive him wild, he needed to leave and he needed to leave soon.

He placed a hand on her waist to gently push her off his body, but her sharp intake of breath at the feel of his hands on her body made him rethink his decision. Instead of now pushing her away House allowed his hands to glide up her sides, feeling the delicate curves of her body, trying to memorise each and every one of them in his mind. Cuddy raised her head so she could look at him, and was blown away by the shade of his deep blue eyes. How on earth was she supposed to walk away from this man who was driving her crazy just by running his fingers all over her body.

He flipped them over, him now on top of her and framed her face in his hands. He lowered his mouth to hers, placing a soft kiss on the side of her mouth and then another on her jaw, progressing all the way until he came to the hollow in her neck where he suckled on the flesh gently, making her moan in pleasure. He retraced the path he had created with kissing her on the opposite side of her neck, and finally placed his lips on hers, caressing them softly. He was in no rush to get this over with, and as soon as she tried to deepen the kiss he pulled away.

His hands finally made their way to her hips, under her clothes and she did not object when House decided to get rid of both her track pants and the old long sleeved sweater she slept in, leaving her in only her underwear. He looked around her room in the fading light, until he found what he was looking for. Spotting the single white rose on her dresser House retrieved it and placed the tip of the flower on her abdomen. He then traced her entire body with it, while blowing warm air wherever the flower had left residue water from the vase he had taken it from, making sure to concentrate on the back of her knees, her elbows and her hip bones more than the rest.

When he finished his exploration of her entire body an hour later, Cuddy was ready for round two, work and meetings be damned, all she wanted was to spend one night in bed with House. If he could arouse her this much only by touching her, she wanted to experience what it would be like if he had to give himself to her, holding nothing back. House leaned down to kiss her lightly once more, froze midway when they heard Rachel's voice, nearer than they expected her to be.

"Mommy what are you doing?" she asked innocently and Cuddy quickly pulled the sheets over her, before her daughter could actually see what exactly was going on.

"I should go," House saw his window of opportunity to get out, and he took it. He grabbed his clothes and headed out of her home as fast as his bum leg would allow him to.

0 o 0 o 0

They drove in silence for fifteen minutes, until Seth finally broke the silence.

"You and House aren't really dating are you?" he asked and Maya felt her cheeks flame up at being caught out, by Seth no less. She was grateful that he could not see her in the darkness.

"We're not exclusive if that's what you're asking," she said trying to answer and avoid his question at the same time. He seemed satisfied with that for now and Maya was hoping he would not probe any further into the state of her and Greg's relationship, or more the lack of one.

"Then why the kiss on the cheek and not on the lips at Cuddy's house?" her hopes were dashed.

"We don't like the public displays of affection," that seemed like a plausible excuse for it, she knew they knew about House's dislike of anything public.

"You do realise that I'm not as dumb as I might look," he said and it caused her to look sharply at him. "Just because I haven't said anything does not mean I don't know what is going on," he continued.

"I just wish I could've met you before House did," and this confused Maya.

"Why is that?"

"Because then maybe I would have been the one getting help with getting the woman of my dreams," he admitted and Maya couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Seth really was a nice guy once you got to know him.

"Could you drop me off at Billy's Bumzz please, I could use a drink," Seth asked as they neared Billy's bar. She drove on, not stopping at the seedy joint. He was about to protest when she informed him that she was meeting a few colleagues for drinks at a club in town, and he was welcome to join her. Seth did not protest, all he wanted was a drink and well if he didn't have to pay for it, all the better for him. He was surprised when she turned into the parking lot of the restaurant they had dinner at with Cuddy's other friends two weeks ago. He waited as she got out of her car and walked into the eating house, ignoring the closed sign hanging on the door and the late hour of the night. Well at least she was not lying, there were four other cars in the lot parked in front of the restaurant.

Seth stood outside for a while, unsure if he should have followed her in or not, and he was still debating his decision when she stepped out looking for him. He watched her as she looked around, her eyes scanning their surroundings and he saw by the slight tensing of her shoulders that something was wrong. Before he could say a word she had pulled him toward her and walked backward until he felt his back come into contact with the cool brick wall behind him.

"What the hell are you doing?" while he wanted it to come out as loud as possible, he found his voice betraying him, and instead it came out as a whisper.

"Saving your damn life, jackass," she replied, not taking kindly to his questioning of her actions.

"By pinning me against a wall?" he asked her uneasily.

"No by diverting their attention," she informed him and spun them around in one fluid motion until her back was in contact with the wall and he was now pinning her against it. It was only then he heard the sound of voices coming in their direction, it sounded much like a group of teenaged boys who clearly had nothing better to do on a weeknight.

"Think he could take us," one of the boys said to which the other replied, "He looks like he's from Wall Street, couldn't hit a damn fly if he tried, besides I don't think he knows we're packing heat."

Oh God, that was worse than she thought and she could see the uncertainty in his eyes, and felt his breath rate increase rapidly – he was beginning to panic and from previous experience knew this was not going to work until she calmed him down. She knew what it huge risk it was, but she took it anyway when she framed his face in her hands, and held it there until he stopped struggling.

"Seth, look at me," and he did, "I need you to calm down and keep your eyes focused on me okay," she told him gently. He did as he was told, and Seth found himself gazing into a pair of the most beautiful black eyes he had ever seen. He didn't risk looking away from her face, not wanting to do something that would put them in more danger than they already were. He felt her hand glide down his back and settle on his back, pulling him closer into her, causing him to brush up against her, and he let out a soft groan, which the teenaged boys heard and started laughing at having caught two adults apparently making out in a parking lot. His arms looped around her lower back and shoulders in response and she felt the shiver that coursed its way through his body at the simple action.

They stayed like that until the boys were out of sight and out of earshot before Maya made the first move to detach herself from his grip, but for some reason he was loth to let her go, despite the fact that his brain was telling him this was all wrong. He moved his hands up to cup her cheeks and lifted her face so he could get a better look at her. He ran his thumb gently across her bottom lip, leaning his head in closer to hers and before she even had time to think it through his lips were gently caressing hers, his tongue begging for entrance to her mouth, as he kissed her passionately, and his fingers leaving burning trails on her body in this freezing weather.

It seemed like forever before their kiss subsided into erratic sucks and erotic nips and finally Maya had breathed in enough oxygen to get her brain working and she realised that even though this felt so right, it was so damn wrong. Seth was involved with another woman, a woman she was trying to keep happy for the sake of her friend. She hoped House was having better luck at whatever it is he was doing at this moment.

* * *

There you have it guys, chapter 11 all done. I would like some feedback as to how you much you liked the turn of events in this chapter with Maya and Seth, because I think ultimately it will have a major impact on House, and the end of the fic – like whether House and Cuddy actually get together or not because of this. I think the next chapter will flesh out a bit more of Maya and Seth and that will give you guys some insight on them and why they react and behave the way they do.

Well read and review guys… please.

Psych.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay guys, but this chapter was really difficult for me because of the way the last one ended. I had planned the story with a totally different direction than the one that last chapter had taken, but alas, I am here bearing a new chapter just for you guys. I really do hope you guys like it. So without further ado, I present Chapter 12 (I think). Also this has not been beta-ed so all mistakes belong to me. And now… (drum roll please) Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 12

It was almost seven in the evening and Cuddy was still seated at her desk, sorting out the documents that needed to be signed and sent off to the respective people. She was told it was a five minute job that could not wait until the next week, and Cuddy being the workaholic she was, decided to have a look at it, and before she knew it she was studying the documents intently, already planning what she was going to ask for when they finally got back to her. She was exhausted, but it seemed the work never came to an end, and she was determined to have it done by the time she left the hospital that night – everything else could wait.

Her ringing phone brought her out of her thoughts, and Cuddy automatically glanced on the clock on her desktop. It was almost eight and she wondered who was calling her at this time of the night. She was surprised when she heard Rachel's sitter on the other end of the line, Cuddy had completely forgotten the young woman had asked if she could leave early and Cuddy immediately gathered up all the papers that were scattered across her desk, shoved them into her briefcase, along with her laptop and made a mad dash to her car and her house.

Rachel had already had her dinner and completed her nightly routine of having a bath and brushing her teeth before going to bed, but she was watching cartoons while waiting for her mother to return from work, as usual. Cuddy kissed the little girl on her forehead as a sign of greeting and proceeded to put her bag and files on the coffee table, getting ready to start working on the proposals once again, but Rachel clearly had other ideas…

"Mom," she called softly, getting her mother's attention, "why doesn't Uncle House come and visit us anymore?" she asked innocently, her brown gaze fixed on her mother's face.

"I don't know, Sweetie," Cuddy replied, wondering why her daughter had decided to bring up the topic of House after four weeks of not actually spending time with the man.

"Uncle Seth doesn't come over so much either," Rachel observed innocently and a guilty feeling suddenly rose in Cuddy's chest. Rachel's innocent statement hit Cuddy square in the chest and she pondered on the fact that Seth had cut down on his visits to her home, and even when he did come over he usually left before eight, which was Rachel's bed time. Did he think she was cheating on him with House? Well he wouldn't have been wrong, seeing as House was always the one she had imagined she was kissing or feeling her up, even when in reality it had been Seth, though he never tried anything after their return from the disastrous weekend away all those weeks ago. She was brought out of her thoughts when her daughter raised the next question.

"Do you think if I ask Uncle House to come to my birthday party, will he come?" Rachel asked and Cuddy shrugged her shoulders. She really did not know; House for the most part hated having to go to social events, and she was sure he would not be interested in a kiddies party, and she was about to tell her daughter that he probably would not attend, but the picture of Rachel clinging to him as if her life depended on it, and House reassuring her that nothing would happen while he was around made Cuddy change her mind.

"You should ask him yourself and see what he says," and Rachel nodded her head. Cuddy saw the spark in Rachel's eyes and she couldn't help thinking that Rachel had been spending more time with House than Cuddy was aware of, seeing as her every reaction reminded her of the misanthropic, grumpy, blue eyed diagnostician.

"Mom, do you like Uncle House?" the words tumbled out of the little girl's mouth and she looked up at her mother, her attention fully focused on her mother.

"Uncle House and mommy are very old friends Rachel," Cuddy tried to explain, but Rachel didn't allow her to complete her sentence.

"It's an easy question mom, just yes or no," clearly Rachel did not want any long stories, all she wanted was a clear answer, one Cuddy was not able to give her. How exactly was she supposed to explain to her daughter that she was actually in love with one man, but seeing another because the man she was in love with was clearly in love with another woman, despite the few kisses and one sensual morning she had shared with him. It was one step forward and three steps back with House, and she hated it.

Another few minutes passed in silence and Rachel piped up again, "Mom, do you think he doesn't come anymore because of his new friend Maya?" and once again Cuddy was caught off guard. The fact that Rachel had mentioned House and Maya twice had Cuddy's stress levels increasing.

"I think its past your bedtime, Rachel. Come on, I'll tuck you in," Cuddy stood up from her chair and held out her hand in her daughter's direction, waiting for the child to take it. Once Rachel was settled in bed, she pulled out her fairy tale book from under her bed and handed it over to Cuddy, indicating she wanted her mother to read her a bed time story. Cuddy settled on reading Aladdin this time, and she hoped her daughter would not over analyse the story and ask too many questions tonight.

She was all for educating her child and answering all her questions, but when the questions were based on a certain, scruffy haired, blue eyed, brash diagnostician, Cuddy didn't really have any answers that would satisfy Rachel's enquiring mind. Much to Cuddy's relief Rachel fell asleep three quarter of the way through the story and Cuddy kissed her daughter good night before switching off the light and exiting her daughter's bedroom. Cuddy made her way back to the lounge and settled herself on the floor, laptop placed securely on her thighs and papers spread out on the coffee table before her.

Four minutes later though all thoughts of working left her mind as the images of House leaning over her body and trailing her green long stemmed, white rose passionately over all her body overrode all other thoughts and she could feel his fingers trailing over her flushed skin. Goosebumps erupted on her skin at just the thought of his fingers trailing her body and Cuddy knew she was not going to be able to concentrate on her work any longer and neither was she going to be able to sleep…

She was about to switch her television back on to divert her attention from straying in House territory when she heard a knock on her door. She answered the knock and much to her surprise Seth stood on the other side of the door, holding a large bouquet of yellow and lilac roses. Cuddy felt her heart skip a beat at the sight of his dimpled smile and she offered him a warm smile in return, as she stepped aside so he could enter her home.

"Hi," she greeted him softly, her warm smile reaching her eyes. "Sorry for the mess, I wasn't expecting any company," she waved her hand indicating the mess in the living room where she had planned on working earlier that evening.

She accepted the flowers from him and found a vase to put them in and set them on her coffee table in the lounge.

"You haven't been around much lately," she looked up at him, her face showing her concern for him.

"Yeah, I got caught up with work, and I had to go to DC for a week," he replied to her unasked question. "Where's Rachel?" he enquired when he didn't see the little girl anywhere.

"She's asleep; it's already past her bedtime."

"Would you like a cup of coffee," she asked when she saw him shivering from the cold outside.

"That would actually be great thanks."

Five minutes later he joined Cuddy at her kitchen table, where she had set out a plate of sandwiches and two mugs of steaming coffee. Seth, being the gentleman he was; waited for her to sit before he seated himself and took a sip of the hot beverage. Cuddy definitely knew how to make a good cup of java, of that he was sure. The conversation was easy and it was mostly Cuddy who did the talking, telling him about the hectically busy month she had just survived with planning a fundraiser for the paediatric ward, Rachel's birthday party that was happening in three weeks time and other monotonous stuff that needed to be done.

Are you doing anything this Saturday evening?" she asked him, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"No, did you have something in mind" he answered her confusedly.

"The fundraiser is this Saturday evening and I was wondering if you would accompany me?"

Seth looked up at her and fiery blue met cool grey. How could he say no to her, he was still technically seeing her, and he was not even sure if Maya was around if he decided not to go? Spending the night in the company of people was better than spending it alone and wondering what if, so he accepted her invitation and said he'd pick her up at six 'o clock.

She watched him as his listened to her, his eyes twinkling with mirth and his dimples showing as he laughed at some of her funnier stories, and Cuddy wondered just what it would be like to run her hands through his hair. Before he even realised what she was doing, he felt her fingertips running down his temples until her hands cupped his cheeks and she was leaning in to kiss him, but images of Maya kept making its way into his mind and he gently released her hold of him and stopped whatever was about to happen.

"I should go, but I will see you on Saturday" he stood up, gathered his coat and left without an explanation, leaving Cuddy hurt and confused, and he hated that feeling but how was he supposed to tell her that he was attracted to and kissed the very woman she did not like or trust at the moment.

The next two days passed in a haze, Cuddy was inundated with the last minute details for a fundraiser for the paediatric ward she had planned for the coming Saturday evening. She barely had a minute to breathe when something or the other caught her attention and she had to take care of it, before she had people breathing down her neck. It was late on Friday evening when she finally made time to go and see House in his office, hoping that he was still there at this late hour, since he was always leaving earlier than he should. The Dean was definitely surprised when she arrived it his office, and found his lights on, though the doors to his office and the adjoining conference rooms were closed.

She debated whether to enter or not and eventually decided she would go in, if he didn't want to discuss what had happened then she would leave, but she should at least have tried. Cuddy pushed the door open and strolled in, not expecting to actually see him in there, and she was surprised that he was seated at his desk, looking interestedly on the papers that were scattered across his the glass tabletop. She made her way to him as quietly as she could, though she knew by the slight tilt of his head that he was aware of her presence in his office.

"You're still here," she said after he placed the paper he was reading, focused his attention on her but did not say anything to her.

"Did you expect me to be anywhere else?" he asked in response.

"No, it's just surprising to see you here after hours, you usually run out before the clock strikes five" a soft smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

Cuddy rounded his desk stopped a foot away from where he was seated, leaning against the glass top, her ankles crossed and her arms folded across her chest. They sat in relaxed silence for a few minutes, while Cuddy ran the conversation she was about to have with him in her mind, hoping his answers wouldn't be very different to the ones she had been expecting from him. She twisted her hands in each other nervously, though she had no idea what exactly she was nervous about. This was House, there was nothing to be skittish about; he knew her better than she knew herself.

0 o 0 o 0

It was the middle of a really slow week and House was laying on his Lazy Boy fast asleep in his office, when the glass door to his office was violently pushed open, causing him to bolt upright and offer loud curses due to the pain it had caused in his thigh. Five minutes of agonising pain, and three Vicodin pills later House was ready to take on the hurricane that entered his office a few minutes ago, but changed his mind when he saw the source of all the commotion smirking at him. It had been a month since he had last seen or spoken to her, and while he really did want to give it to her for waking him up the way she did, House found that he simply could not stay mad at Maya for longer than three minutes at a time.

"Nice to see you too, Stud," she said by way of greeting which earned her a scowl from House in the process.

There was something different about her, something that was not there the last time he had seen and spoken to her, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it just yet; he would have to spend some time with her to figure out just what it was.

"Well, since you're so damn happy to see me, you can take me out for dinner, there's not enough food in this place," he grumbled and Maya merely smiled at him. Something had changed with him while she was gone, and knowing House as well as she did, she knew he wanted her to ask him about it, he would not tell her on his own.

"You should stop stealing Wilson's food, so often, maybe then he'll actually leave some for you," she quipped and House mumbled something undecipherable in return. "Okay, you can stop being such a grouch, where would you like to go?" she asked him, knowing he would not want to go to a place that would be crowded and he could not be himself. She was met with silence, and she turned to face him, only to find his gaze glued to the exposed skin of her lower back. Maya felt his cool fingers circle the area he was examining and she gasped in pain when he lightly pressed his finger onto the bluish – purple bruise that graced the small of her back. She cursed silently, Greg was too damn observant for his own good.

"It's nothing, I've had worse" she said before he could even ask her about it, gathered his leather jacket and cane, handed it to him and walked out of his office without another word. Dinner was going to have to be at his place or hers, somewhere private if they were really going to talk about this. During the ten minute drive from the hospital to their apartment building Maya tried to engage him in talking to her about his month, but House was just not interested in any conversation unless it regarded the bruises he had seen on her on two different occasions. Then to finally put an end to all the interrogating questions the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"It's not what you think Greg, its work related, and believe me if I needed help with a domestic issue I would have told you." and she left it at that.

It seemed to settle House's curiosity for the moment, and he let it go for now, he knew what it was like when people kept pestering him to talk about things he really didn't want to talk about. There would be another opportunity to discuss it soon enough, if she didn't leave before then. They arrived at their apartment building, and Maya parked the car in her allotted parking space and killed the engine. She waited for House to say something but he continued with his silent treatment toward her, so she gave him the option of spending the night alone with no dinner or he could at least try having a conversation with her and be treated to a hot meal and company for the rest of his evening.

Needless to say, House did not want to spend another night alone and hungry and mumbled something about hot chicken soup and bread which fortunately for him, Maya heard she smiled despite her annoyance at his behaviour. An hour later they were seated in the lounge, House seated on his sofa with a big bowl of steaming chicken soup and a plate of oven heated bread at his side, ready to be devoured with the soup. Maya was seated neatly on the floor, her bowl of vegetable broth and a small slice of toasted bread sat on a side plate next to her bowl of broth on his coffee table. They ate in relative silence, both of them thinking of just how they were going to tell the other of what had happened in the weeks they hadn't seen each other.

Maya was the first to break the easy silence, when asked him about Rachel and whether the little girl had experienced any more nightmares after the last time.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her since then," he answered and Maya saw the honesty and hurt that flashed through his eyes as he spoke.

"Well if she did have one, Cuddy would have called you, seeing as you did such a good job the last time," Maya replied and for some reason the thought Cuddy calling him if Rachel was having nightmares reassured him.

"How are you and Cuddy doing? You haven't made a late night visit to her home in the last four weeks," she stated and House looked at her in complete surprise.

"Do you have people spying on us?" he asked disbelievingly.

"No, I just assumed it, since you always brag about your encounters with 'The Devil Incarnate Herself' as soon as I walk into the room, and your lack of bragging makes me think something has happened and you're avoiding her," Maya mocked him and House had to smile at her brilliant impersonation of him describing Cuddy.

Maya cleared up the dinner dishes and cleaned the kitchen before returning to the lounge and House's side, and offered him a mug of strong, steaming coffee. He accepted the mug and watched her closely as she settled down next to him on the couch. She seemed tensed about something and he was debating on whether to ask her about it, knowing she wouldn't tell him about it anyway. He racked his brain trying to remember if she had told him anything about herself, but he drew a blank, he knew absolutely nothing about her, except for the fact that she was beautiful, single, and really good with kids and trying to help him win Cuddy over, though he was not quite sure about that just yet.

"You know just because you fed me, does not mean I'm going to let you get into my pants," he quipped as he felt her arm brush against his.

"Greg, if I wanted to get into your pants, I would have done so a long time ago; you would not have known what the hell hit you, and you would have been powerless to stop it from happening" she replied saucily and House somehow had the feeling she was right. She had this innate ability to get along with everyone and more especially the male species. That he had witnessed for himself the night they had joined his friends for dinner.

"You're assuming I don't have any self control when it comes to beautiful women?" he raised an eyebrow at her and Maya simply grinned at him.

House felt Maya's hand on his as she took the coffee mug from his hand and placed it on the side table, then proceeded to run her fingers up his arm all the way to his shoulder before coming to a rest on his cheek. Her other hand followed the same route and House found his face framed in her tiny, delicate grasp. His heart began to race in his chest when he saw her face moving toward his, tantalizingly slow, until he could feel her breath on his lips. She closed the small gap between them and House felt his eyes shut automatically, his breathing increase, and his blood pounding in his ears. He groaned low in the back of his throat when her mouth made contact with his ear lobe, and his hands unconsciously banded around her waist, pulling her closer into him.

Another groan later and Maya pulled away from him, leaving him hot, panting and confused. His eyes were glassy and his breathing was still erratic, as he tried to still his racing heart. He was brought out of his stupor when her phone began to ring, and from the tone of her voice he knew she had to go, even though he didn't want her to, not after what had just happened between them.

"Just proved you don't have any self control," she stated as she picked up her stuff and headed out of his apartment but not before giving him a kiss on the forehead.

The next two days passed in a haze with his thoughts shifting from the erotic morning he had spent with Cuddy and the almost kiss that her occurred in his apartment with a woman who he didn't really know but intrigued and excited him nonetheless. He knew he had to tell Maya what had happened with him and Cuddy the night she had taken Seth home but he wanted to keep it a secret for just a little longer. He wanted to be able to have something that only he and Cuddy had shared.

He was seated in his office at his desk looking over a few documents Thirteen had left behind for him to go over whenever he had a minute to spare and he figured now was the best time to do it. He was about halfway through the pile when he heard his glass door being pushed open and he didn't have to look up to know who had just entered his office, he could make out his boss's footsteps anywhere. He watched her as she made her way toward him, making her way around his desk and leaning against the glass top two feet away from where he was seated.

"You're still here," he heard her say after had placed the sheet he was reading on his desk and focused his entire attention on her, her tone showing her surprise.

"Did you expect me to be anywhere else?" he asked her, even though he knew it was a legitimate question.

"No, it's just surprising to see you here after hours, you usually run out before the clock strikes five," and he returned her smile, he knew she was right, he never stayed past half past four unless he had a patient who was dying.

They sat in silence for a while, and House noted her posture, her ankles crossed, her arms folded across her chest, indicating she was protecting herself from something and he waited when he saw her deep in thought. He knew she was thinking of how to start the conversation neither of them wanted to have, but they had to have so they could move on with their dysfunctional relationship.

X – X – X

"House," she started softly and when he didn't say anything she continued, "We need to talk about what happened the other morning." Her cheeks flushed with colour and she could feel the heat rising in her neck and ears.

"You mean what happened in the clinic with Brenda the Barbarian?" he asked, and even though she knew he was going to try and avoid the real issue she tried anyway. "Because I can assure you she was the one checking out your ass, I was bribed into doing so," he continued.

"House!" she sighed in resignation.

The lanky diagnostician stood up and mirrored her position of leaning on his table and it was only when she felt the handle of his cane hook around her waist and pull her toward him, that she knew exactly what was going on in his head. She found herself standing shoulder to shoulder with him, but House had changed their positions in a matter of seconds when he pulled her around to stand before him facing him. Cuddy's hands automatically made their way to his chest, keeping her from being pressed up against his warm body. She looked up at him, and found her cool grey gaze pinned onto his by his sparkling azure ones. His hands settled themselves on her hips and he pulled her lower body infinitely closer to his and she could feel just how affected he was by her presence.

Even with her three inched heels she was a head shorter than him, and he leaned in, burying his nose in her dark locks, breathing in the scent that was essentially Lisa Cuddy. She felt him kiss the side of her neck softly, suckling on her delicate skin, gentle enough not her hurt her but with enough pressure to leave his mark in her. She craned her neck in the opposite direction, giving him more access to her flesh, and soon enough he had her moaning in pleasure.

He pulled back long enough to get his breath back, and saw her usually cool grey orbs had turned a darker shade and that her pupils were dilated. He framed her face in his large hands, asking her with a simple look, if this was what she wanted and she answered by leaning into him and placing her lips squarely over his, sucking on his bottom lip lightly. Cuddy deepened the kiss and she felt his hands move from her face down her neck, shoulders and hands, finally coming to a rest on her hips once again. The feel of his cool fingers on her blazing skin was more that Cuddy could handle and she pushed herself up into him, his chest rubbing against his.

He was driving her insane as he drew circles on her hips and then trailed his fingers up her sides, feeling each rib until he felt the material of her bra. House ran his fingers on the elastic strap until he came to the front, and swiped his thumb over her breast, catching her unaware and causing her to gasp in pleasure. He repeated the his action and this time he felt just how aroused she was, so he continued stroking her lightly enough to keep her aroused until she was moaning with pleasure. One of her hands was banded around his neck keeping his mouth glued to hers, while the other was inching down his chest and abdomen. They were still kissing furiously, each of them fighting for control and Cuddy was about to undo his belt buckle when they were rapidly brought out of their own little world.

"I leave you for a few minutes and you can't wait to stick your tongue down another woman's throat," came her vexed voice from the doorway.

They tore apart mid-kiss but not quickly enough that she could not see just what exactly was going on between them. House turned his body slightly to look at her, and he saw Maya leaning against the glass doorjamb of his office, his hand still tucked under Cuddy's shirt and skimming over her erect nipple. Cuddy kept her face buried in his chest, hoping that Maya would not recognise her, the guilt of kissing House, who was seeing Maya, already making itself present in her gut. Her hopes were dashed though when she heard the next words to tumble out of the dark eyed; dark haired woman's mouth.

"You know the fact that your hand is still stuck up under Dr Lisa Cuddy's shirt, and the fact that she is trying to hide her face in your chest is not helping your case, Greg."

Cuddy's entire body stiffened at the mention of her name, and even though they had been caught by the one person she didn't want to get caught by, Cuddy could not find the strength to peel herself from his warm body. She had come here to talk about what had happened four weeks ago, and just where their relationship was headed, and she had landed up making out with him in his office, and being caught by his damn girlfriend. Things were just not getting any better for her.

"Dr Cuddy, as for you, I thought you were ready to walk away from the man you fell in love with twenty years ago. It was clearly a teenaged crush, was it not?" Maya asked and Cuddy felt the heat rising in her face. Yes she had said she was ready to leave House for good, but that didn't meant it had to be right now did it? He would not have allowed her to just walk away from him after twenty years of friendship, twenty years of being there for each other, with each other through every high and low they had celebrated and suffered, would he?

A tense silence filled the air and neither Cuddy nor House knew what to say to the woman still standing in the doorway. Cuddy knew Maya was right, she had no right to be making out with him, she was technically seeing another man, and House was not actually sure if Maya was joking around as usual or if she was serious and catching him and Cuddy in such a compromising position had somehow rubbed a raw nerve. Not for the first time, he could not read what was going on in her head and for some reason it scared him a lot.

"Well then, I think I should go," Maya's voice filled the air once again, "and I definitely will not be seeing you tonight," she looked directly at House, and with that she turned and made her way down the long corridor heading toward the elevators.

She made it about three quarters of the way before she allowed her lips to tug up into a smile. It really was fun to see just how far she could push their buttons before they pushed back or crumbled under the pressure. She thought House would say something to defend Cuddy or even his own actions, and the fact that he did not made Maya smile grow. They were finally getting somewhere, it was taking longer than she initially thought it would but hey he was taking one step at a time and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. As she took a step to round the corner, Wilson came crashing into her, his face etched with worry.

Maya held up her hands to prevent Wilson from sending them both crashing to the ground, and looked concernedly at him. He mumbled a quick apology to her and took two steps before his brain processed what had just happened and he turned around to look at her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"Looking for Greg, but clearly he's not here, his lackeys are all gone and his office is deserted, he must've left early," she replied, trying to keep herself from bursting into a grin.

"Where are you hurrying to, it's way past working hours. Isn't Amber waiting at home for you? If that's for Greg, give it to me and I'll make sure he gets it by tomorrow," she asked in return and Wilson pondered her suggestion for a moment. He had to give House a patient file, though it could wait until Monday, so he handed her the file and they both made their way back to the elevator, the parking lot and then to their respective homes, with Wilson being non the wiser on what his two friends were up to not even ten feet away from where he stood earlier.

Cuddy cautiously stepped out of House's office, her mind alert, listening for the sound of Wilson's voice in the corridor, but the passageway way quiet, except for the janitor who was mopping the vinyl flooring. She had reluctantly untangled herself from House's grasp a few minutes after Maya had so angrily walked out the door. House on the other hand seemed loth to let go of her, even though his mind was already spinning with thoughts on how Maya felt when she had so casually walked in on them making out.

"I'm going to head home, Rachel will be waiting for me," Cuddy straightened her rumpled clothes and ran her fingers through her mussed hair, trying to flatten it before she left his office.

House tiredly ran his hand over his face; he and Cuddy were back to square one. And what the hell was going on with Maya, it was not like they were seeing each other exclusively for her to get angry and annoyed at catching him and Cuddy making out in his office. She was the one who kept rejecting his advances and then disappearing for weeks at a time, too busy to have a relationship with him. She had no right to be moody with him.

0 o 0 o 0

Saturday evening came all too quickly for Cuddy and she had just applied the final touch of make up when she heard the knock on her front door, signalling that Seth was here to pick her up. She took one final glance in the mirror, pushed in the hair pin that was sticking out and made her way to her lounge where Seth was seated. Rachel glanced up at her mother approvingly; she had helped her mother pick out the accessories that matched the light pink dress she had chosen to wear for the evening.

"I'll see you later honey, you be good for Alex and in bed by eight okay," Cuddy told her daughter.

"Why can't I come with you?" Rachel asked softly, her lower lip starting to tremble slightly.

"I have to go because it's work Rachel, and you know how late it gets, and there won't be any other kids there to play with, Sweetie," she tried to soothe the child, but she knew she was not doing a great job of it.

Seth saw the disappointed look on the little girl's face. Granted the kid was not one of his greatest fans, but the expression on her face made him want to pick her up and take her along with them just so she could spend time with her mother. He of all people knew just how precious her time with her mother was and it was functions like these that cut into the time Rachel could spend with the mother. A thought formed in his mind a quick decision later, he had it all figured out. Now if only he could pull it off, with some help of course.

"Are you ready to leave?" Seth heard Cuddy ask him and he nodded.

"I just wanted a glass of water before we leave, you can wait in the car, I wont be long" he said as he handed her the key and Cuddy looked suspiciously at him. This was out of character for him, he had always walked her to the car, opened and closed doors for her, but tonight he seemed a bit different; in fact he seemed different since the night House had stayed over, but he couldn't have known about that, he had left well before she had asked House to stay. Maybe she was just reading too much into things, so she made her way to the car, settled herself in the passenger seat and waited for him.

As soon as Cuddy was out of earshot he called Rachel and she looked up at him warily. He kneeled down on the floor coming down to her height, where she was standing and he smiled at her.

"I have an idea," he whispered so that Alex, her sitter, could not hear him and Rachel's eyes widened in surprise. Seth usually did not take the extra effort of talking to her when she didn't want to talk to him, but she listened to him nonetheless, "but you can't tell your mom or Alex it was my idea okay?" he asked and she nodded.

"I want you to go and pick out a dress and shoes to wear for the party and I will be back to fetch you okay?" he asked her softly and while Rachel still thought he was joking with her, she nodded. "Look at the clock, I will be back when the small hand is on the seven and the big hand is on the six, okay?" and the little girl nodded. A small smile graced her lips and Seth felt the tug on his heart strings, she was finally starting to like him. "Go on," he pointed to the passageway leading to her bedroom and Rachel made a dash for it, not looking back as Seth walked out and made his way to where Cuddy was waiting patiently for him.

Twenty minutes later they arrived at the venue and Cuddy saw that the decorators were still putting the last of the decorations. She exited the car and made her way into the large hall, taking in the rich colours the room had been decorated with and commended herself on a job well done. Well she had told Seth to come an hour early just so she could oversee everything that was being done. The caterers had also arrived and the food was being prepared, dinner was to be served eight so there was enough time for everything. The only people who had yet to arrive was the band she had hired to play, but she was not worried it was still an hour for the event to start. Cuddy made her way to the centre of the room and looked around, everything had been set according to her specifications and she smiled to herself, tonight was going to be a huge success.

Seth found his chance to escape and make his phone call when the head chef came up to talk to her about a specific vegetarian dish she had asked him to prepare for the few benefactors who were vegetarians. He stepped out into the cool air and dialled the number, hoping that the number she had given him was the correct one and that she would actually answer his call. His relief was visible when she answered and he told her all about his plan to pick up Rachel later, but he would need a bit of help from her, and she was all too willing to be of assistance.

0 o 0 o 0

Maya woke up to the sounds of extremely loud banging on her front door and she cussed at whoever it was waking her up before noon on a Saturday. She walked groggily to the door, hand still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes when she opened the door and came face to face with a fully dressed and clearly irritated Gregory House. Judging by the look on her face, whatever it was he had come to discuss could wait until she was fully awake, dressed and had consumed her third or fourth cup of coffee for the morning, giving her enough kick to deal with whatever was on his mind.

"It's before noon, what do you want, Stud?" she asked as a greeting.

"Fundraiser. Tonight. Pick a dress," he shoved three dresses at her and she took a hold of them before they fell to the floor.

"You certainly know how to ask a girl out and just in case it has escaped your notice, I am not interested, it's the weekend – the two days I actually have to relax, and I don't need to raise funds, I have a job that pays me more than enough for my services" she replied not interested in what he had to say.

"I didn't say it was for you, it's for the paediatric wing at the hospital," he informed her and he watched as her eyes softened a little for just a second and then her guard was back up.

"You're not a fan of social events, why the sudden interest?"

"Free food and alcohol, what else?" he answered though she knew there was a hidden motive.

"Are you sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Dr Lisa Cuddy will be there with Seth?" she saw his jaw clench in response.

"Look are you interested or not, because there's a long line of women who would like to have a piece of me, I'm offering you first preference."

"Fine, what time do I have to be there?" and for the first time that morning she smiled at him.

"The invitation says seven for half past seven but if I know Cuddy well enough she'll be there an hour earlier to micromanage everything."

"Six it is then," Maya smiled at him, and stepped up and kissed him lightly on his cheek as a good morning greeting.

At ten minutes past six Maya was seated on the couch in House's living room, waiting for the man to emerge from his bedroom. He was worse than a woman when he had to dress up for functions. She had never met a man who took as long as House did to choose a set of clothes and wear them. After another five minutes, she stood up and made her way to his bedroom, not caring if he was actually dressed or not, thankfully though he had enough sense to put on his boxer shorts and a T-shirt on. Wilson had stopped by earlier and spread House's crease free monkey suit out on his bed, and quite frankly Maya could not see what his problem was.

"I am not wearing that monkey suit," he informed her when he saw a disapproving face.

"Okay then, what did you have in mind?" she asked. If he was not going to wear the suit she should have at least taken out a set of back up clothes. He shrugged in response, so she merely shook her head at him and stepped up to see just what formal clothes he possessed. After looking through everything she finally settled on a formal dark grey pants, and jacket, a sky blue shirt which highlighted his eyes and a light grey tie to complement his shirt and a pair of comfortable black loafers. Ten minutes later when he emerged he was still only half dressed and Maya sighed tiredly; his shirt was untucked and his tie was still undone. A scathing look from her made him tuck in his shirt, but he still needed help with his tie; she stepped up to him, her face inches from his as he tied his tie and straightened his collar.

Maya pulled her Audi R8 to a stop in the parking lot of the hall the fundraiser was being held at twenty five minutes later and heaved in a deep breath; this was going to take a lot of effort on her part. House stiffened when he saw Seth's car already parked in the lot but said nothing and stepped out of the car and made his way to the large hall. House didn't leave her much time to do anything, the guests were already starting to arrive seeing as it was almost seven 'o clock. They stepped into the massive hall together, House's hand settled on the small of her back, but his gaze seeking out Cuddy.

Two minutes later Wilson and Amber walked in and Maya was glad for the distraction that Wilson provided for House, leaving her to go about her plan unhindered. She made her way across the wide expanse of the room and came to a stop next Cuddy and Seth, who were seated at the bar while they waited for the benefactors to arrive.

"A Sex On The Beach Please," she politely asked the bartender, who was only too happy to serve her. She paid for her drink, waited as Leo made up her cocktail and she watched as Cuddy turned to face her, the older woman's ears burning with embarrassment at her suggestion. She smiled politely at Cuddy, taking great pleasure in Cuddy's abashed appearance. Leo arrive three minutes later with her drink, and placed it sloppily on the counter, causing the glass to tilt and most of the liquid to spill onto Cuddy's dress. Maya heard the string of curses that passed Cuddy's lips, but she kept her smile and instead offered the older woman her hand and led her to one of the rooms on the opposite side of the vast hall. Okay there was a change in the plan, but Maya was okay with it because it was to her advantage…

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Hope you guys enjoyed this instalment, because there's only one more chapter left…

Reviews are love… so share the love (please)

Have a great week ahead

Psych


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**A/N:** Wow this chapter took extra long to write, and yes I had the first version all ready to be posted a while ago, but as I read it, I decided to make a few changes and landed up writing an entirely new chapter. I have to warn you though, this chapter has very little House / Cuddy romance, but it is a very important chapter as it shows some of Maya's background and why she is the way she is. It will also give you a few clues to the next chapter if you look really hard. Hope you guys like it.

* * *

**Chapter 12**

The string of expletives that escaped Cuddy's mouth as they walked to the small room on the other side of the hall and as soon as the door was closed amused Maya. She knew Cuddy was no pushover, but hearing the words leave her mouth was certainly very amusing for the younger woman and Maya could not hold back the grin that was now plastered across her face. Lisa Cuddy could put sailors to shame with that mouth of hers and for some reason Maya was proud of the woman standing before her. The fact that Cuddy could curse the way she did also made Maya think of what Cuddy was like in her younger days, before she had become Dean of Medicine at Princeton Plainsboro and so prim and proper.

Lisa Cuddy turned to face her and while the glare she used on her staff members usually instilled fear in her employees, it had no effect on Maya, who simply shrugged her shoulders and continued smiling at her, and thus further angering the older woman. She was about to give Maya a piece of her mind when she heard Maya talking to someone. Surely she was not mean enough to allow anyone else into the room with them, and Cuddy looked around the small room for an adjoining bathroom to hide in but found none. She let out a breath she did not realise she had been holding in an effort to keep in anger in check, but it seemed like the technique was about to fail.

Cuddy listened to the heated conversation in a foreign language she did not understand Maya was having with whoever it was on the other end of the line and was caught off guard when Maya snapped her phone shut and threw it across the room, the device hitting the wall with great force and smashing into pieces. She watched as Maya drew in deep breaths, her chest heaving, her fists clenching and unclenching with restrained force. There was a flash of complete rage that settled in her irises though it passed in a second and Cuddy was not even sure if she had seen it.

"How long were you planning on keeping me here?" Cuddy asked her voice not quite as firm as she would like it to have been. Maya's sudden bout of fury had unnerved her, and Cuddy was not comfortable with being in a small room with a woman who seemed like she was ready to take on the world at the moment.

Maya looked up from the floor, and she took in Cuddy's appearance. The Dean seemed to be a bit hesitant to talk and Maya knew she was uncomfortable, but there was nothing she could do about it until Cuddy's clothing problem had been addressed. "Hey, it's your event, so technically it's your room, and I'm not actually forcing you to be here. You can, by all means leave if you want to, but if I were you I would first try and figure out a way to get that stain off my dress." Cuddy heard the effort it took for Maya to get her tone and mood back to the way it was before her phone call, but she decided not to say anything to her, it was not any of her business anyway.

A few more minutes passed before Maya's voice filled the air once again. "I have an idea. I'm not guaranteeing that it will work, but I think it's worth a shot," she informed Cuddy who, from the expression on her face, did not seem too keen on it. "That is if you trust me enough to help out," Maya added as an afterthought when she saw the look on Cuddy's face. Well it couldn't get any worse than it already was and Cuddy nodded her head in agreement despite the thought in her head telling her that this was a bad idea.

They managed the walk from the room to the back exit doors without any hassle, and Cuddy was relieved when they finally emerged in the darkened parking lot, which was filling up with cars now. Maya unlocked her car doors with the press of a button and waited as Cuddy settled herself in the passenger seat and strapped on her seat belt. Maya simply chuckled and shook her head at the gesture as she started up the Audi and waited as it warmed up. As soon as she heard the gentle purr of the now warm engine, she exited the parking lot and headed in the direction of her home.

Seeing that they were not headed in the direction of her home, Cuddy was about to ask Maya where they were going, but she began to recognise the street names and some of the buildings and she frowned in confusion. Well she didn't actually know where the younger woman lived, for all Cuddy knew, Maya could have been living a block away from House and he would not have even known it. Five minutes later they were parked outside House's apartment building and suddenly Cuddy was not so sure about her decision to trust Maya. She watched as Maya made her way to the front door, and let herself in, before turning around and raising a questioning eyebrow at Cuddy. Cuddy followed Maya, her mind reeling with thoughts that should not have made its way into her mind at all.

They came to a stop outside House's door and for some reason Cuddy expected Maya to pull out her key and open his door, when she heard the bolt of the door opposite House's unlock and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that House and Maya were not in fact living together.

"After you," Maya allowed Cuddy to enter her apartment, and closed the door behind her.

"Make yourself comfortable," she continued when she saw Cuddy standing nervously in the living room.

Cuddy looked around the living room, taking everything in. The room was furnished with only a sofa set, a flat screen TV that was mounted on the wall, a DVD player, a few books lying haphazardly on the small glass coffee table in the centre of the room and one small display cabinet in the corner of the room. It looked like there was nothing personal of hers in here, and she thought maybe it was because this was where she entertained guests and didn't want them to know about her personal life.

"Are you planning on looking at my bare walls all night?" Maya's voice floated through the apartment and turned to face the direction in which the voice had come from. Maya poked her head out from the bedroom and waited as Cuddy made her way to the bedroom. She had to do a double take when she saw the contents of Maya's bed. Lisa Cuddy had never seen as many evening dresses in her life as she saw at that moment. There were dresses of every colour, style and length sprawled out on the bed, ready for her perusal.

"Thought you might need one of these," Maya smiled at her, and Cuddy could not help the two red spots that made its way to her cheeks.

"I… I can't wear…," Cuddy started, she could not wear any of these dresses, they looked like they cost more that what she got paid for three months, and if it got ruined… well that was another story altogether.

"Hey, the way I see it, you need a dress, and I have more than enough, I don't see the problem," Maya informed her and Cuddy made her way to where the dresses were splayed out and she ran her hand down the first one. It was a halter neck, diamond work, knee length dress, silky smooth to the touch, and unfortunately a vivid red she knew she would not have been able to pull off no matter how hard she tried, but it was gorgeous nonetheless.

She spent a further ten minutes looking through the dresses but she could not settle on one she liked. Maya had retreated to the kitchen to get something to drink though Cuddy was sure it was an excuse to give her some space. That idea went to hell though, when Cuddy heard the front door fly open and a woman's voice boom through the apartment, without even so much as a warning.

"I think its time we finished this discussion," Cuddy was sure that was not Maya's voice, and Cuddy was certain the woman was angry though not as angry as Maya had been earlier.

"This really is not a good time for me," Maya replied calmly and the other woman merely scoffed at her in return.

"It's never a good time for you Maya. When are you going to learn that the world does not revolve around you?"

"Hey I didn't ask you for your help, I'm a big girl I can take care of myself, Anna," Maya's voice rose with every word and Cuddy was sure this was the woman who had angered Maya earlier that evening.

"Yeah because drinking until you pass out is taking real good care of yourself. Next time you do that make sure you never wake up," Anna retorted and even though Cuddy was standing in the next room she felt like she had been squarely in the chest, deflating her lungs with a painful punch.

"You do realise that not everyone has the perfect life you have, not all of us can afford the mansions and imported cars and a personal butler to cater to our every fucking whim and desire. Some of us struggle just to get through the day, we have seen and done things you could never imagine so do not come in here judging me with that all superior manner of yours."

"Maya, you have to deal with whatever it is…" Anna started but Maya cut her off.

"You have no idea who I am or what I've been through so I don't appreciate you telling me how to deal with stuff. Do not come and try to right the past just because you think you know what happened. Now I suggest you leave," there was no space left for debate and Cuddy knew if the other woman tried to say anything else in her current state of mind Maya would not hesitate to hurt her.

"I was only…" but Maya was clearly not interested in sharing her story or listening to the other woman, and the next thing Cuddy heard was Maya's angered voice ordering Anna to get out of her home and the slam of the door after the woman had left.

Cuddy heard Maya enter her bedroom a few minutes later and she turned to face the younger woman, not really knowing what to say to her, but bracing herself if she actually had to discuss what had just happened in her living room. Maya on the other hand had no intention of discussing it and asked Cuddy if she had found a dress for the evening. She shook her head, indicating that from the twenty five dresses splayed out on the bed, she did not like any of them. A nervous feeling made itself known when she noted the grin spreading across Maya's lips as she dashed out of the room at lightening speed and was back before Cuddy could ask her where she was off to.

"I think this would actually look better than any of those old ones," she handed Cuddy a sky blue dress and motioned for her to try it on. As Cuddy slipped into the new dress, she heard Maya rummaging around the apartment, and she found what they were when the dark eyed woman handed her the accessories that went perfectly with the dress. Maya gave her a once over and circled her to make sure the dress was indeed the right size and when she was happy they finally made their way back to the fundraiser. They entered the hall just as Mr Gray was about to hand over his cheque over to her.

0 o 0 o 0

Seth waited until Cuddy was out of sight and the door to the room they had walked into was closed before he made his way back to the parking lot. He considered asking one of Cuddy's employees for their help, but he dismissed the idea when he remembered the looks that had been passed his way the evening of the dinner. He was almost sure that he could not have pulled this off on his own, but the sight of Rachel's disappointed face was more than he could handle and so he got into his car and made his way back to Cuddy's home almost twenty minutes away. He hoped with all his might that his little plan would work, and he stepped on the gas peddle wanting this to take as little time as possible.

When he finally reached Cuddy's home, Rachel was seated on the couch watching TV, her attention on the screen in front of her and not on the man who was waiting for her in the doorway. He waited as Alex called her and she finally registered what was going on. He really was here to get her; he had not lied to her, just to get her to stay at home.

"Come on," he held out his hand in her direction and she slowly got off the couch and made her way toward him, not even glancing at Alex who was staring at the scene in front of her.

"Dr Cuddy didn't say anything about Rachel going out tonight," she informed Seth but he was not interested. He had promised this little girl she was going to her mother's party, and he was not about to break his promise to her.

"Dr Cuddy doesn't actually know I'm here for Rachel," he replied and from the look on her face, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. God where was Maya when you needed her. She was the one who could handle situations not him, still he had to think fast, before Alex called Cuddy and alerted her about his plan. "But I can guarantee you she would not mind if I took Rachel along to the fundraiser," he added as an afterthought.

The sitter was about to say something else when he cut her off.

"Alex, right?" Seth asked her and Alex nodded.

"It's a Saturday night kid, please tell me you actually had plans before Dr Cuddy called you to watch Rachel, because if you didn't then well that's kinda sad for a high school kid," he continued and Alex thought about what he said for a moment.

"Do you really want to spend your Saturday evening watching a five year old girl sleep while everyone else is out enjoying themselves?" and that was the turning point for Alex.

"Fine, but if Dr Cuddy asks, I will tell her I was not a part of this," Alex assured him and he nodded in agreement.

Seth turned to look at Rachel, her face beaming with excitement and her eyes shining with laughter, and Seth could not help but smile back at the little girl as he took in her outfit. She looked excessively cute in her black bootlegged jeans, flat, calf length black boots, and a loud long sleeved, blue T-shirt that read 'My Mommy Is The Boss… So Watch Out' on the front of it. He grabbed her jacket from the top of the couch as they made their way out of the house and to his car. Once he was sure she was securely strapped into her car seat, Seth settled into the driver's seat and started on their journey to the fundraiser. He was visibly relieved when he arrived in the parking lot half and hour later and Maya's car was still nowhere to be seen. He was safe… for now.

He led Rachel to their table and seated her in Cuddy's seat next to him, just as Mr Gray was starting his speech. Chase and Cameron were already seated at the table and they gave him questioning looks when they saw him lead Rachel toward their table, but he didn't feel the need to offer them an explanation of his behaviour. Rachel was looking around the hall for her mother and she was starting to panic when she saw no sign of Cuddy. Thankfully Aunt Cameron and Uncle Chase were seated at the same table as she was and if she wanted to go home soon she would ask Uncle Chase to take her.

0 o 0 o 0

House looked around the vast hall, taking in all the rich colours and décor. Cuddy had certainly outdone herself this time and he smiled to himself, knowing that with Lisa Cuddy it was either 'go big or go home' and go big she really did. He was expecting to see her at any moment, talking to one of the donors, with Seth stuck at her side while she convinced the benefactors to donate money toward the upgrade of the paediatric ward. He was disappointed though when he could not find her anywhere in the room and had sulkily made his way to the bar on the opposite of the large hall.

He had already placed his order with Leo who was now on the other side of the bar and getting House's drink ready when Amber and Wilson joined him at the bar counter.

"I see you still haven't got rid of your problem," he offered Wilson as a greeting and nodded in Amber's direction. Amber simply smiled sweetly at him and Wilson shook his head at his friend's greeting.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Wilson said his eyebrow raised in question at House who was swirling the glass containing his drink in his left hand.

"Well there's free food and drinks, plus I get to look at all the half naked woman without having them notice," he offered in response and Wilson chuckled. Trust House to come only for the free booze.

Amber had spied Thirteen, Kutner and Taub sitting at one of the tables and made her way over to speak to her former colleagues, giving Wilson and House some privacy. They stood in silence for a few minutes, House lost in thought about his boss and Wilson trying to figure out what was actually going on in his friend's mind. House had changed over the last few months, he was not as miserable as he used to be, he was still as closed off as he was before, but he the walls he had erected around himself were starting to crumble and Wilson had an idea of who it was that had started the process. He just hoped she would not break his heart and then run off with someone else, like Stacey had done so many years ago.

"Have you seen Cuddy tonight, she looks amazing," Wilson informed his friend, who looked at him quizzically.

"I thought she hadn't arrived yet, I haven't seen her since I walked in almost twenty minutes ago."

"How could you possibly have missed her in that body hugging, just above knee length, sleeveless dress, House?" he asked the Diagnostician, his voice rising with disbelief that House would've missed something like that.

The sound of instrumental music coming from the speakers alerted the two men that the speeches were about to start and they should have made their way to their table, but House was not interested in sitting at a table listening to speeches if he could not annoy Cuddy while the old men were droning on about how much money they were willing to donate to PPTH. House turned to face Leo, asked for a shot of bourbon and sipped it before Wilson could protest.

An old man who Wilson knew as Old Gray had stepped up onto the podium, holding what seemed like a five paged speech. Damn this was going to be a long ceremony, and while Wilson was used to things like this, it never made it any easier. They watched as Old Gray straightened his jacket and pants when he came to a stop on the platform and raised his head to look at the audience who were now quiet, all their attention focused on the old man. House didn't bother listening to the speech and he didn't feel the need to turn and face him, instead he ordered another shot of bourbon and waited as Leo filled his glass.

"And lastly I would like to thank Dr Cuddy for inviting us to this fundraiser and putting in all the effort to make sure it was a success. On behalf of my company I will now present her with a cheque of five hundred thousand dollars for the upgrading of the paediatric intensive care wing," the old man finally concluded his speech a long fifteen minutes later. At the sound of Cuddy's name, House's head shot up, his gaze searching for the woman he had been looking for all night. He was not sure she was even here, but how could she miss her own fundraiser? He thought to himself.

0 o 0 o 0

"Dr Cuddy, if you would please come forward and accept this donation," Mr Gray was saying and there was a murmur from the crowd, everyone turning heads to see if they could get a glimpse of the missing woman all evening. Wilson and House all looked up at the mention of Cuddy's name and it was Wilson who first recovered from the surprise.

"Holy hell," were the only two words his brain could come up with on such short notice.

House on his part remained silent as he drank in the sight of his boss as she made her way up to the podium. He was already salivating and he hadn't even said anything to her just yet. She looked like she had stepped out from one of those glossy magazines the interns were always reading.

The ice blue dress fitted her perfectly; it was as though it had been tailored just for her. It was a strapless, low front cut dress, with small silver studs on them, which were only visible if you stood in the right spot. The top half conformed to her body like a second skin and from her waist down, it flowed to the floor, hiding the three inched open toed sliver stiletto heels that completed her attire. Her hair was loose and arranged in soft curls that framed her face. Her make up had been flawlessly applied and House almost groaned out aloud when he saw her red coated lips turn up in a smile when she finally saw him. That was when he noticed her eyes, the grey blue orbs accentuated by the smoky eye shadow that she had applied. God, he wanted to touch her to see if she was real, or just a part of his imagination.

She finally arrived at the platform and accepted the donation on behalf of the hospital before making her way to their designated table. House and Wilson did the same and she was already seated when they arrived. Cameron, Chase and Amber were also seated at the table, waiting for the rest of them to arrive from wherever it was they were. What House did not expect to find was Rachel, seated on his chair between Cuddy and Maya, grinning up at him as he looked for a chair to steal from one of the other tables.

"Hey squirt," Maya called the little girl and Rachel smiled at Maya, "come on you can sit with me for a while, so Uncle Greg can rest his leg," she held her arms out and Rachel immediately moved from House's chair and into Maya's waiting arms, while Cuddy looked on with amazement. She hadn't realised Rachel and Maya were so familiar with each other, and now it all made sense to her, why Rachel had asked all those questions about House coming to visit them less, whether she liked House and so on.

"Rachel," the little girl turned to look at her mother, she knew that tone of voice meant she was going to get yelled at for something. "How did you get here?" Cuddy asked and Rachel immediately looked at Seth, though she said nothing, it was supposed to be their little secret, and she then turned to settle her gaze on House. Before Cuddy could even get a word out House beat her to it.

"I have no idea how your sprog got here, I wouldn't bring her to something like this, its torture enough for me, why would I willingly put someone else through it?" he asked and for some reason Cuddy just did not believe him. He obviously had something to do with it, and she was going to find out before the end of the night. She looked at Cameron and Chase, hoping either one of them would admit that their former boss had something to do with getting Rachel here, but both of them shrugged their shoulders indicating that they had no idea just how she had arrived.

Soon enough the man were engrossed in a conversation about the cover girl on the newest issue of the FHM magazine, while the woman talked about how excited the men got at the mere mention of a famous model's name. They were all so wrapped up none of them noticed Maya silently place Rachel onto the chair and made her way to the bar at the back of the large hall. Leo made his way to her as soon as he saw her, and she asked him for a double shot of scotch single malt. She took her drink and was heading back to the table when she spotted the piano in the corner of the room.

She diverted her course and instead made her way over to where the band was playing, sans a piano player. Maya asked them if it was okay if she could play a song or two and they were only too happy to have her play. She had a short conversation with the drummer, and then took her seat on the piano bench and placed her fingers on the cool ivory keys. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, it had been a while since she had last played, but felt like she needed to and waited as the musicians played through their song.

By the time House realised his date was missing from his side, the wait staff had arrived with the food trays and were placing the large trays on the tables. The menu of roasted chicken, steak au poivre and seafood platters were scrumptious as were the creamed spinach and mushroom bake as well as the vegetarian lasagne topped with two types of cheese. They all served themselves and House made sure the sprog had something on her plate before he dished out food for himself. Cuddy watched with interest as House and Rachel interacted and a small bubble of hope rose in her chest.

They were halfway through their meal when they heard the drum beat. It took a few seconds before the hall was completely silent and the drummer started again. They listened carefully and House was the first to realise it was supposed to be the sound of a heartbeat. It was followed by a soulful piano tune, which tugged at their heart strings. Cuddy had to admit the pianist who was playing this tune had a lot of emotion in him, and she turned to face the band to get a better view of the pianist she had hired. The melody of a flute soon started and it only made the music sound better.

The music played on and Cuddy didn't even realise she had tears welled up in the corner of her eyes, until Seth handed her a tissue. She didn't know she had hired someone who could play the flute. House's eyes were closed as he took in the music; he had ever heard something like this being played in a long time, so pure, unadulterated, so full of raw emotion and so damn perfect. The rest of the hall remained silent simply taking in the soul stirring music. When it finally came to an end, House turned to look at who the musicians were and he was stunned when he saw Maya sitting at the piano, flute on the lid and her fingers dancing over the black and ivory keys, her eyes closed as she played the last notes of the song.

Maya made her way back to the table, and seated herself back in her seat with Rachel perched on her lap and her glass of scotch held securely in her grasp. She noted the way Cuddy watched her, taking special interest in the glass of scotch now placed on the table, and Maya knew Cuddy was thinking of the incident that had occurred earlier.

"You didn't tell me you could play the piano, or the flute," House said when she looked at him, only to find his gaze focused on her.

"Well you never asked, Stud," she reminded him playfully.

"Where exactly did you learn to play like that?" Cameron asked and she turned to look at the blonde woman.

"I didn't have any formal training if that's what you're asking; I sort of picked it up as I went along, but I picked up most of it in rehab," she smiled widely at Cameron and they didn't really know if she was telling the truth or lying, but a glance in Cuddy's direction alerted the Dean that Maya was in deed telling the truth. A look passed between the two women and Cuddy was the first to look away, this was Maya's issue, and if Maya did not want House to know about it, there was nothing Cuddy could do about it.

"Did you have something to eat, Squirt?" Maya turned her attention to the little girl seated in her lap, and Rachel nodded her head vigorously.

"I ate all my vegetables, but Uncle House kept stealing my carrots from my plate," Rachel informed Maya, with a pouting face and Maya had to try and not smile at the little girl's expression.

"Well then I guess it would only be fair that we take his dessert," Maya said as she slid the plate from House and placed it in front of Rachel and handed her a fork, causing House to protest loudly.

"Oh come on Greg," Maya placed a soothing hand on his chest, a gesture which neither Cuddy nor Seth missed, and while Cuddy was perplexed by the younger woman's behaviour, Seth had no qualms about what Maya was up to. He had no doubt that Maya was not romantically interested in the world renowned diagnostician.

"Are you really going to steal it back from a five year old?" she asked and House instead pulled Wilson's dessert from him and started on that, causing Maya to roll her eyes, and Wilson to scowl at him in reply.

If Cuddy was angry or distressed at the fact that Maya and Rachel had such a good relationship, she did not let it show. She was definitely uncomfortable with it, but she did not want to yank her daughter away from the woman and make it seem like she did not trust her with Rachel. She just wished she had more free time to spend with Rachel, and that Rachel would laugh and joke with her as she did with the dark eyed woman. And besides if House trusted Maya with Rachel, then she really was not going to day anything and be the bad guy.

After the dinner and dessert dished had been cleared away, it was time for socialising and dancing and Seth wasted no time in asking Cuddy if she wanted to dance. She accepted his invitation and they made their way to the dance floor which was now filling up with couples. Seth took one of her hands in his and placed the other around her waist, as they started swaying to the music. Half way through the dance, Seth began to think of ways of how to tell her he had met someone else. Well it was not like they were seeing each other any more. He had gotten his own place, and they had agreed that she needed a bit more time and space, and that she would let him know when she was ready, but he had made it clear to her that he was not going to wait forever for her. Still it was a task that was easier said than done and he knew it.

After the song had ended they made their way back to the table, only to find Wilson and Amber had disappeared but Chase and Cameron were still seated. Rachel was now seated on the table opposite House who was grinning stupidly at her funny faces, and only encouraging the little girl more.

"Hey Sprog, let me tell you a secret," House pulled Rachel closer to him and started talking again. "Your T-shirt says your mom is the boss, but she's not really the boss, I am," he finished and this only caused Rachel to giggle more.

Cuddy scanned the room for Maya and saw her at the bar once again, ordering what Cuddy assumed was her fourth or fifth drink for the evening, before she returned to the table, and while she wanted to ask the younger woman about it, she knew it was in her best interest to leave it alone. Maya would tell someone about it when she felt the time was right.

A few more songs were played before the musicians decided to call it a night and the deejay took over. Seth saw this as his opportunity to once again get onto the dance floor. He reached out to Cuddy, but had politely refused, telling him that there was no way she could do 'club' dancing at this age. He looked at Cameron, but the blonde woman looked down at her now showing tummy and shook her head, indicating that she could not join him. Finally he looked at Maya, and while he was sure she was going to turn him down, he hoped that she would accept. It seemed luck was on his side however, when he stood up and followed him onto the dance floor.

While the first dance was platonic, their hands remained where they were positioned, a few centimetres separated their bodies from the other and no attempt to get closer to each was made, the second was nothing compared to the first. Seth had initiated the contact when he pulled her body flush against his, and looped one arm around her waist and the other around her upper back, and they moved in time with the beat of the music. He spun her out, never letting go of her hand, and reeled her back in, allowing her to land with her one hand splayed across his chest. The pair were so caught up in their dance, they did not notice the other couples leave the dance floor in order to give them space to dance.

They were both brilliant dancers, each moving in rhythm with the other, it was like they had been practising these steps all their lives. They looked so natural dancing as they were, as close as possible, looking into the other's eyes, and concentrating only on themselves. It was as though nothing else existed in the world but them, and the crowd were spellbound by their movements.

"Did you know she was this good in Latin dancing?" Chase asked disbelievingly, his gaze still stuck on the couple still dancing in the centre of the room.

"I don't know we never bothered to go dancing, since I have such good dancing skills," House replied impatiently.

"Damn they must really be having fun between the sheets," came a comment from the back and both Cuddy and House's heads shot up.

Seth lifted her up by her hips and spun her around, his grasp never wavering, and when the music started to die down, he gradually lowered her to the floor, trailing her body down his. When they finally stopped dancing, their chests were heaving, his arms were wrapped around her waist, while hers were banded around his neck, their bodies pressed together and their faces inches apart, and moving toward the other very slowly.

"Damn he wanted to kiss her," was the only thought that ran through Seth's mind. The one kiss they had shared outside that restaurant was not enough, he needed more. The pair was brought out of their cocoon when the crowd started clapping and Maya was the first to disentangle herself from his grasp, though Seth kept his hand on her lower back as he guided her back to their table, a gesture neither House nor Cuddy missed.

"Didn't know you danced so well either. Would've been nice to know you were practically going to sleep with Cuddy's date with your clothes on beforehand."

"You never asked, Greg," she replied. "And it was one dance, why are you so upset about it? I thought you wanted to take his attention off Cuddy," she hissed at him.

He was about to reply when Rachel climbed up onto his lap and settled her head on his shoulder, her eyes halfway closed and her breathing slow and deep. The little gremlin was tired and she needed somewhere comfortable to sleep, but there was no soft surface to put the kid on so he held onto her tightly, rubbing soothing circles on her back. He thought of a place, but the only thing that came to his mind was Cuddy's office which was the closest to the hall.

"Sorry gotta run, never know when Little Greg will be up again," he said as he handed Rachel over to her mother and led Maya toward Cuddy's office.

His voice boomed through the office before the door was even closed and Maya was not sure just where all this anger stemmed from. As far as she was concerned, all she had to do was play along as his love interest and get Cuddy interested in him and get Seth away from Cuddy, and now that, that had happened she had no idea why Greg was so pissed off.

"What the hell was that?"

"It was one dance, Greg. That was what it was, nothing more."

"Didn't look like just a dance from where I was seated!" and with that statement she figured what his problem was.

"Greg, are you jealous of Seth?" she asked gently, not wanting to anger him further.

"I should have been the one dancing with you, not him," he stated softly.

Maya walked up to where he was leaning against Cuddy's desk and came to a stop in front of him, placing her feet between his. She cupped his cheeks in her hands and forced him to look at her.

"You are not second best, Greg. No matter how much you try and convince yourself or anyone else that you cannot make someone happy; you and I both know that is not true. Being here with you Greg, just spending time with you and your friends make me happy," she tried to convince him.

"Yeah but you're not even ready to have a relationship with me," he stated and Maya simply smiled at him.

"Greg, I would love to have a relationship with you, but I do not want to destroy what you and Cuddy have. I know it might sound clichéd right now, but you have no idea how lucky you two are to just have each other around. You have twenty odd years of history between you, how could I possibly even think of ruining that? And besides Rachel thinks of you as her daddy, what would happen to her if you and her mommy never get together?"

House thought about what she said for a moment and decided she was right; he would not break Rachel's heart.

"So what now?" he asked her.

"What you're going to do is walk back out of this office, find Cuddy and declare your undying love and commitment to her," Maya informed him.

There was silence for a few minutes and Maya wondered what was going on in his head, but she did not have to wait long to know.

"I always did like your sense of humour," he said and smiled down at her, and with that all the tension dissipated from the room.

"Come on its late and I do believe your daughter is waiting for you to take her home," Maya joked with him as they made their way back to the ballroom.

As soon as Rachel spotted him, she jumped from her mother's lap and ran straight into House's leg, waiting for him to pick her up with out stretched arms. He did so a few minutes later and walked over to their table, balancing the little kid in one arm and his cane in the other.

"I think we should get you home, Smurf," he told Rachel and she nodded in agreement. Cuddy stood up too, not wanting to send her daughter with Maya and House.

"I'll go with you," she stated.

"I don't have a car here, Wilson gimme your keys," he shouted not realising Wilson had left some time ago.

"Why don't you take my car, I can pick it up tomorrow," Maya handed Cuddy her keys and Cuddy was not sure whether to take it or not.

"Trust me, I am in no shape to drive tonight, I'll hitch a ride or call a cab."

"Are you sure?" Cuddy asked and Maya nodded her head and handed Cuddy the keys.

"Enjoy the drive," she told them and watched as they walked out the doors leading to the parking lot.

= x = x =

"Hey are you okay?" she heard Cameron ask her and Maya nodded.

"I need a drink," and with that she headed in the direction of the bar. The night was finally over; she hated parties, especially around this time of the year because all it did was bring back the memories that she wanted to leave behind, to forget so she wouldn't have to fight so damn hard just to get through the day.

Her usually sharp senses were dull and there was a nice buzz going on in her head, not too drunk but enough to take away the pain. She was so locked in her own world she did not see Seth take a seat next to her.

"I think you've had enough to drink," he stated while he removed the glass from her hand and placed it on the bar counter. "It's time to go," and with that he slapped a few bills on the counter and led her away from the bar and toward his car.

"You want to talk about it?" Seth asked as he drove toward his apartment seeing as he did not know where she lived.

"What makes you think there's something to talk about?"

"You've been drinking," he stated as though that was reason enough.

"Yeah, everyone drinks, doesn't mean anything."

"Look I just need a bit of time out okay, I'll be fine after I get a good night's sleep," she informed him and he knew the conversation was over.

* * *

Wow finally the end of the chapter.

Please let me know what you think, and also I know there were almost no House / Cuddy moments, but that's because it's all in the next chappie, which is the last one. I promise. Here's a little preview...

_"She's so young; she shouldn't be here in a damn ICU ward fighting for her life," Cuddy said softly, but Wilson heard the guilt in her tone._

_"It was an accident Cuddy, it happened in a split second, no one could have known this was going to be the outcome," he continued when she stayed quiet for a while. "You should go back down, I'll tell the nurses to alert you as soon as there's a change in her condition," he said and gently guided her out of the room. He returned a few seconds later to talk to House, who had not left her bedside since she had been brought in, except to go to the bathroom and sometimes to get a change of clothes_.

Hope you liked the little insert from the next chapter. Let me know if you guys want me to keep going or not.

Leave a review on your way out please


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter 1

**A/N:** So there is nothing worse than coming home from a week away only to find reviews, for a story you've worked so hard on, saying it was incomplete and disappointing. At first I had no idea what was going on, but decided to take a look and lo and behold a new chappie had been uploaded without me knowing. I apologise to all the readers who took time out to read the unfinished and yes very disappointing chapter. The thing is Psych was so excited she uploaded the first draft which clearly was not the one. So I, dyslexic have redone chapter 14 and you will see have divided it into 2 parts. You already know what's going to happen, so I might leave it as it is, or I might change it, this all depends on what you guys think. Also we have agreed that I, D CSI will now take over what is left of this fic and hope that I can once again reach the high levels that this fic once had.

And now here's the improvised chapter.

* * *

Chapter 14

The drive to Cuddy's home was done in silence; Rachel was fast asleep in her car seat on the back seat and House in the front passenger seat. Cuddy turned to look at him and smiled at the relaxed expression that graced his tired features. She knew how much he despised social events, especially ones where there were people who thought they were better than him, and weren't afraid to tell him that, even though they were so wrong. She was also certainly surprised that he had attended the fundraiser. She didn't have to guess, though, who had convinced him to attend the party and once again the feeling of jealously crept up from her gut and settled in her chest. There was no reason for her to be jealous of Maya, it was not like Cuddy and House were even in a relationship, Cuddy tried to convince herself, but it was no use. The heart wanted what it wanted, and right now all it wanted was the man currently fast asleep in the passenger seat next to her.

She also could not for the life of her figure out why Maya had decided to help her with the huge stain on her dress either. The younger woman could have just walked away, and allowed The Dean to be humiliated because of another person's sloppiness, but she did not, instead she helped Cuddy without even hesitating and, Cuddy had to give her credit for that. Maya, Cuddy realised, was a complex person, just like House and she now understood why they had got along so well together. They both understood what it was like to always be on the outside, looking in. Still, Cuddy had a niggling feeling in the back of her mind, that something was not right, though she kept the thought to herself and continued the journey home, her thoughts wandering at a mile a minute.

When they finally reached her home, Cuddy parked the Audi in her driveway and switched off the engine. She remained seated though and turned to look at her daughter still fast asleep on the back seat, before her gaze roamed to the man beside her. She was not surprised House was actually wide awake and he had just pretended to be sleeping so that she would not ask him how her function was. Cuddy watched him as he slowly exited the car and made his way up to her front door, unlocked it and let himself inside her home, going about it as though it was their usual routine. Cuddy gathered her sleeping daughter in her arms and traced House's footsteps into her home and made her way directly to Rachel's room to put the exhausted child to bed. She covered Rachel with her blanket and kissed her goodnight before she switched off the light and closed the door half way.

House, in the mean time, had made himself comfortable on Cuddy's sofa in her living room, allowing his long, lean legs to stretch out on the roomy three-seater and he covered himself with the shawl Cuddy always left on the backrest of the sofa. He was in no mood to drive across town to his place and the couch seemed like a comfortable place to crash for the night. He picked up the remote and flipped the TV on with the press of a button. He thought the noise of the TV would distract his thoughts from Maya but he was mistaken. He knew he was overreacting but the look on Maya's face as she played the piano was not a look House would easily forget. He knew the pain better that anyone thought he did and Maya had certainly been through something that had scarred her for life. But she clearly was not willing to talk about it, and House was not going to crack his head trying to get her to talk to him. Besides it's not like what he did now could change whatever had happened to her in the past.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Cuddy entered the living room a few minutes later, her gaze fixed on him and her eyebrow raised in question.

"Thought we could have a replay of what happened the last time I stayed over," he said as he bobbed his eyebrows and Cuddy merely shook her head at him and dropped her gaze, knowing he would immediately see the want in her eyes, and the rising colour in her cheeks. She opened her mouth to say something, though her brain was not fast enough at the moment, so she closed her mouth. She repeated the action twice, and finally determined that if it was important it would come back to her later.

House could not help staring at her any more than he could control his fast rising heartbeat. Cuddy was still clothed in the figure hugging, ice blue dress she had worn to the fundraiser and it was doing nothing to curb his imagination which was now overheating with forbidden images of him and the women in question in very compromising positions. He hadn't seen a dress as sensual as this before in her closet or even on her, and he wondered if her dress style was changing. Thoughts of running his hands over her slightly glowing skin while kissing her and removing her dress made its way unbidden into his mind, and he shook his head quickly as though the action would rid him of the thoughts.

"Would you like some coffee?" Cuddy asked him after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, but he did not answer.

"House!" she called a second time, and this time he looked up at her, his face showing his confusion.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?" she asked him again.

Only if I can drink it off you, he thought.

"Yes," he nodded his head.

He watched her as she turned and headed in the direction of her kitchen, his eyes focused on her rear as she walked. He heard the hum of the coffee machine as it started up a few seconds later and House listened to the sounds coming from the kitchen as Cuddy worked in it. He traced her steps to the kitchen a few minutes later and was not surprised to see Cuddy had made a few sandwiches. If she knew House as well as she thought she did, she knew he was hungry but would not say anything until the last minute, so she had prepared in advance, seeing as she did not want him waking her up in the middle of the night for food. He settled himself at her table and watched as she worked, and as usual not even offering to help her with something.

"Did I mention how doable you look in that dress?" he asked her lecherously and Cuddy's heart fluttered rapidly beneath her ribcage. It was the closest thing to a compliment she would get from House.

"If you think telling me I look good is going to get you into my pants, you're sorely mistaken, House," she replied, her cheeks still flushed.

"Actually, it would be kind of useless seeing as you're not wearing any," he quipped.

"I seriously doubt there's anything under that dress, except for your ginormous ass and the twins," he continued when she didn't stop him.

"Did you sell your soul for it?" he asked her while trying to keep his expression stoic. "Silly question, you are The She Devil, you can't sell your soul, you must've demanded one of your underlings provide you with this dress."

"Actually I didn't ask for it, it was willingly handed in my direction," she kindly informed him. It was not like she was lying about it, Maya had given it to her without hesitation.

"Yeah well, it's not easy to say no to the Ruler of All That Is Evil," he smiled at her, and she saw his eyes twinkling with mischief.

She walked over to the table where he was seated and placed the plate of sandwiches and the two steaming mugs of coffee between them as she took a seat on the chair opposite his. House wolfed down three of the four sandwiches, before he asked her if she wanted one, but she shook her head and he took that as a sign to ravish the last one too. Cuddy, could not for the life of her understand how the man managed to eat so much and not put on weight. He was forever eating and yet he managed to retain his attractive physique, while she had to constantly watch what she consumed, and she envied him for that.

"I can guarantee you she could have said no if she really wanted to," Cuddy informed him.

"She was scared of being burned at the stakes."

"No, I don't think that would've actually scared Maya," the name slipped from her mouth before she even realised it, and she saw House tense for a moment, and then it was gone.

A few minutes of silence passed before House spoke up again.

"So…" House drew out the word.

"What's going on with you and Seth?" he asked her casually, causing Cuddy to choke on the sip she had just taken. If there was one question she was not expecting, it was that one, but trust House to change the subject if it was not something he wanted to talk about.

"Nothing," she answered honestly.

"We decided we need some time away from each other, I needed to spend time with Rachel before we decided to make any permanent decision and we needed to figure out where we want to go from here," she continued when he did not say anything.

"So technically, we're not seeing each other anymore," she added as an afterthought, and House nodded his head. Somehow she thought it was very important he knew that bit of information.

"What about you and Maya?" Cuddy asked, figuring if he could ask about Seth then her enquiring about the dark eyed woman was fair game, and it was her chance to change the subject.

"What about us?"

"Are you two in a relationship?" Cuddy wanted to know.

"Depends…" he didn't complete his sentence.

"What do you mean it depends, either you are in a relationship or you're not. There is no in between, House," it came out stronger than she wanted it to.

"On your definition of a relationship," he answered, watching her face for any sort of reaction, but Cuddy kept her face devoid of emotion. She had learnt from the best, after all.

"You smile a lot more when she's around," Cuddy thought out aloud to which House nodded.

"It's because I know she'll reward me for my good behaviour, I don't have to play games with her," he said lecherously, and smiling widely at her though Cuddy's smile faltered at his statement. She quickly stood up and turned her attention to the breadcrumbs that littered the kitchen unit where she was working at earlier and started wiping them off.

"She's quite good with kids," Cuddy said softly, her back still facing him, "Rachel has taken quite a liking to her," she turned in his direction, watching him.

House thought back to the night Rachel had woken up screaming her lungs out, and he could not call Cuddy or Wilson and Maya had been the one to calm the screaming rugrat down, and the day they had spent at the mall as well as the day she had taken Rachel to the park to build snowmen with the other kids. Yeah Rachel had really taken to Maya and he was sure Maya was very fond of Rachel too.

"Yeah she is quite taken with Maya," he admitted and watched the way his boss's body stiffened at his admittance of Rachel's liking toward the younger woman.

He had been watching Cuddy closely and he had not missed the slight jerk she had when Maya's name had been mentioned, and he needed to see if his theory was in fact true. While Cuddy would never publicly show it or even admit it to him or herself, she was jealous of Maya. He watched as she turned her back to him, knowing she didn't want him to see her expression and he took this as the opportunity to make his way to where she was standing; her back to him. He purposely dropped his empty cup allowing it to crash on the floor, and fortunately not breaking it.

Cuddy spun around immediately, worried House might've gotten hurt, and her face was met with his chest as soon as she did so. She was so immersed in trying to keep her hurt expression from him that she did not hear him approach her and that her first mistake of the evening.

"You should just admit it, Cuddy," he told her softy, closing the distance between their bodies and Cuddy offered him a confused expression, his warm breath cascading down her neck.

"Admit what?" her voice was soft and breathy and she hated that no matter how hard she tried to hide it; House had such a major effect on her and her damn body always betrayed her to him.

"That you're jealous of Maya and me!" he exclaimed and placed his arms around her on the counter, effectively trapping her between him and the counter behind her.

"That is ridiculous," she tried to keep her voice steady but it was she knew it was a lost cause, especially with her being pressed up against him.

"Denial is an ugly thing Cuddy," he drawled.

She felt him grind her hips into hers, and a soft moan escaped her throat without her permission as she clenched the material of his shirt in her tiny fists.

"House…" her thought process was interrupted when he placed his finger on the end her clavicle and ran it up the down the length of the small bone until he came to the hollow in her neck. She looked up at him, only to have her silver blue eyes pinned by his azure ones, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of them. He clearly had no idea how much he affected her on a daily basis, and not in a professional way.

She almost collapsed when she felt his warm lips on her cool skin as he lightly sucked at the flesh in the hollow of her throat. His hands were gently massaging her shoulders as he continued to suck and kiss her skin, and she had not even realised her eyes were screwed shut in pleasure. It was the rasp of her zipper being undone that brought her crashing back down to reality and her eyes flew open, her chest heaving and her breathing unsteady.

"I am not…" she started but the rest of her sentence was drowned out when House melded his lips to hers in a scorching kiss that rendered her speechless, and unable to think of anything but the feel of his chest pressed up against hers and the sensation his hands were creating all over her body.

He lifted her in one fluid motion and settled her on the counter, annihilating the miniscule distance between their bodies. His hands ran down the length of her thighs, past her knees until they reached her ankles and he squeezed them gently before they retraced the path back up her legs and came to a rest on her waist. Her hands in turn, snaked around his upper back and cupped the back of his head, making sure he would not disengage their mouths without asking her first. She felt as his fingers danced on her warm skin under her sweater, tracing a path from her sides to her chest, and his thumbs grazed over her clavicles. She didn't want this kiss to end… ever, but she couldn't always get what she wanted, could she? Their kiss finally subsided into erotic nips and erratic sucks, and it took Cuddy a minute or three to regain her bearings.

"Maybe we should take this some place more private. I don't want Rachel walking in on us like the last time," she whispered to him, afraid the sound of her voice would have broken the spell.

"Maybe we should," he replied, and carefully pulled her off the countertop and placed her on the ground, but his hands never leaving her body.

They made their way, hand in hand, toward her bedroom, the air full of heat and promise. House came to a stop outside Rachel's bedroom and untangled his hand from Cuddy's.

"House," it came out more as a question, and House simply nodded his head in the direction of her bedroom and encouraged her to go on. He wanted to spend a few minutes alone with the rugrat. He watched as Cuddy disappeared into the darkness of her bedroom and he quietly stepped into Rachel's and silently made his way to her bed and seated himself next to her sleeping form.

"Hey Smurf," he whispered hoping not to wake the child but loud enough for him to at least hear himself.

"Whatever you do, please do not wake up early and grace your mom and me with your presence. I would like to spend a little more time with Cuddy, if you know what I mean. Also I think I'm ready to officially be your daddy, but I think we should wait a little while to let your mom in on the news okay. I need to think a few things over before I decided to become an ally of the She Devil herself. Good night squirt," he finished softly before kissing her softly on her cheek and making his way to Cuddy's bedroom.

When he finally made it to Cuddy's bedroom he was surprised to see her still fully clothed and sitting on the edge of her bed, deep in thought. He thought he had made his intentions quite clear earlier on and he almost made a one eighty degree turn and headed back out when the sound of her voice stopped him.

"I thought we were going to continue what we started," her voice was smooth as silk and he found himself reacting to that alone.

"Did she have any idea what the sound of her voice did to him?" he mused silently. "Judging from the bulge that was so visible on his pants, she obviously did have an idea," he smiled.

He took one tentative step forward and waited for her to say something, anything that would alert him that she had changed her mind and was not interested in actually taking their relationship any further, that all she wanted to see was how far she could actually push him. Cuddy remained silent, her gaze fixed on a point just past his head. Sensing his hesitation, she stood up from her seated position and met him halfway.

"You're still fully clothed," he says pointedly and she smiles at him.

"Thought you wanted to do the unwrapping," he knows she's testing him, but hell he's waited this long, he's not in a mood for games tonight.

"Cuddy," he started but she shook her head and he stopped talking.

"I want this as much as you do, House," she admitted to him and he nodded.

He felt her palms as they cupped his cheeks and she slowly drew his mouth to hers, and captured his lips in a slow sensual kiss. She tardily led them to her bed and pulled him down with her as she flopped into the mattress, never disengaging her mouth from his. Her hands made their way under his shirt and T-shirt and his cool skin felt like heaven under her flaming hands. She removed his T-shirt and dress shirt and tossed them somewhere in her room in a matter of seconds and she admired his upper arms and chest as she did a quick once over of his upper body.

"You should wear this dress more often," he informed her between kisses and Cuddy could only nod her head in agreement.

The ice blue garment was easily dispensed with as House pulled down the zipper on her left side and slid it off her perfect body. He pulled away from her for a second to admire the masterpiece of her body before him and he pulled in a deep breath at the sight of her nipples showing through the thin material of her brassiere. House lowered his mouth to her chest and lightly nibbled on the flimsy material of her bra, and elicited another throaty moan from her and the invisible beast in his chest rumbled with pride. He continued with his actions, enjoying her smaller body squirming with pleasure under his larger frame.

Cuddy's hands fisted the sheets when she felt House close his warm mouth over her bra clad breast unexpectedly, suckling softly on her flesh. A low guttural moan escaped her throat as House aligned his naked body over hers, and she felt just how ready and willing he was for this to happen. Her hands skated over his pectorals and came to a rest on his hip, pulling his lower body flush against hers, and he hissed in response to her action. She could not believe they had finally made it this far tonight, and that House had so far showed absolutely no signs of backing out.

They were brought out of their passion filled cocoon when Cuddy's phone began to ring. She reached for the cordless on her bedside table, but House's hand gripped her wrist gently as he shook his head. He did not want anything to stop whatever was happening between them. A few minutes later though they heard the panic stricken voice of Dr Cameron on Cuddy's answering machine asking her to come to the hospital to be with her just in case they had to deliver her premature baby. House saw the internal battle she was fighting and he responded by rolling himself off her body and allowing her to get up if she wanted to.

"House," but he silenced her with another head spinning, soul stirring, breath stealing kiss.

"We will continue this later," he murmured in her ear, and sucked gently on her earlobe before promising her with just a look that he was indeed serious about continuing what they had started.

H . O . U . S . E . M . D .

Seth finally reached home half an hour later. While he was sure that he had broken many of the speed limits, he really didn't care; all he wanted was for Maya to be safe and inside her home or his, seeing as he had no idea where she lived and he was not about to ask her, not while she was in this state. She was not as drunk as he first thought she was, and he valued his life more than anything at that moment. He fed his key into the keyhole and turned it until he heard the bolt unlock, before he turned the handle and gently swung the door open. He returned to the car to get Maya and led her up the pathway and into the guest bedroom of his home. Maya was so exhausted and possibly inebriated, she flopped onto the mattress and fell asleep immediately.

After making sure she was comfortable as she could have been, Seth made his way to his bedroom, changed into a pair of comfortable track pants and a T shirt and sunk down onto his bed. He smiled sadly to himself, when he imagined them spending the night together all those weeks ago, this was not what he had in mind. He was exhausted too and he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He was awoken two hours later, however, by unusual noises coming from his living room. He was used to living alone and therefore even a slight noise would wake him.

He slowly made his way to the lounge and saw Maya seated on the couch, her knees were drawn up to her chest, her arms folded across her knees and her eyes glued to the screen in front of her. He took a closer look and was not surprised to see that while she was in fact looking at the television screen her thoughts were a million miles away, she could have been on another planet for all he knew.

"Sorry I woke you, I couldn't sleep," she offered him an explanation and he simply nodded his head and seated himself next to her on the sofa. He was taken aback however when he saw the glass of scotch she was drinking from on the coffee table before them and he frowned at her. She could not still be drinking, not with the amount of liquor she had already ingested earlier that evening.

"Drinking is not going to make the pain or the problems go away," he said casually.

"Yeah, but it does take the pain away, even if it's a temporary fix," she replied.

A few silent minutes passed and Seth mulled over what she had just told him. Whatever it was that made her resort to the bottle must have really screwed her over. He needed to get her to talk to him, open up to him, even just a little. Maybe he could help her with whatever it was she was dealing with.

"You know, I shared one kiss – one earth shattering, life altering kiss with you, and I know absolutely nothing about you," Seth said after a few minutes.

"There's nothing to know, what you see is what you get," she motioned her finger up and down her frame as though that was all there was to know.

"I don't think so; I mean you knew about my relationship with Lisa Cuddy that not even her friends knew about. How did you know about it?" he asked.

"Oh come on Seth, we're talking about Dr Cuddy, youngest and first female Dean of Medicine, how could you not do research on someone as powerful or sexy as her. All I did was a little research, and her friends at Ann Arbour were very willing to tell me what they knew about her. The fact that your name popped up a few times got me interested and I did some research on you too. Didn't know you were from one of Princeton's blue blooded families though, that I have to admit was a surprise."

"Your dad was the man who came up with the idea of building soft, plush toy animals from scratch and letting kids choose the way they wanted to dress it up, so it could represent what they wanted. Little did he know how big a success it would become in the later years. Definitely made most kids' dreams come true," she smiled at softly at him, and the thought that she was reliving a memory made its way into his mind.

"You pretty much don't keep in contact with your two older brothers who I have to admit are jackasses for trying to kick your father out of his own business. Thankfully you had your head screwed on the right way and sent them packing," she continued when he looked at her stunned by all the information she knew about him.

"What I didn't know though, was that it was not you dad who made regular anonymous donations to PPTH but you, though why you had to keep it secret still puzzled me. Also it was just my luck that you and Dr. Cuddy were hooked up when I met you," Seth noted that Maya had never once called Cuddy by her first name; it was always Dr. Cuddy or Rachel's mom.

"Now that we know so much about me, how about you tell me a little about your family?" he asked slowly, not sure if she wanted to talk about them since she had never mentioned them before.

"There's not much to tell, actually."

"My parents were normal middle class people, they worked hard to get where they are now. They just did not have the strength to stand up to their siblings when they interfered in family matters. I have a brother, younger than I, probably married with a few kids by now, probably also still working his ass off to pay for the huge rock his girlfriend wanted when they were teens."

"I left home when I was sixteen, too much pressure to get straight A's and a job and the perfect boyfriend from extended family. I worked two jobs, put myself through school, actually managed to get good grades, got accepted in a pre med programme, but I spent most of my time watching people and how they behaved, and interacted with each other and so I dropped out after the first semester after I realised I was wasting my time there. Then I got a job as a bar tender at one of the upmarket clubs in DC."

"It paid well," she explained when she saw his expression. "And it was a stepping stone to the job I have now, which I would not trade for anything in the world."

"Which is…?" he asked her slightly amused.

"If I told you I would have to kill you," she answered with laugh though Seth knew from the expression on her face that she was not joking.

"What about a boyfriend and kids? Didn't you think of settling down, having a family of your own? Someone to come home to?" he asked her.

"Nope," she replied but Seth saw the slight flash of was it rage or sadness that passed in her black eyes, and he knew she was keeping something from him. He wanted to ask her about it, but he decided that her telling him this much already was more than enough for one evening, and so he let it go. There would be another time to ask her that one.

"You should head to bed, it's getting late," she changed the subject.

Seth nodded his head, picked up the remote and switched off the TV before they both headed to bed in their respective rooms. He noted the glass of scotch had not been touched since he had arrived in the living room and he emptied it in the kitchen sink before he retired to his room. He was woken again however an hour later by an off feeling in his gut. He got up from the bed and made his way to Maya's room, only to find her fully awake, sitting up and shaking uncontrollably. He immediately walked up to her and sat down next to her on the bed. She had clearly had a nightmare and though he was not sure how bad it was. She looked terrified though.

"Hey you okay?" he asked and she shook her head slowly.

"Do you want me to call House to come and get you?" If there was one thing she didn't need, it was House pestering her about her nightmares and she knew he wouldn't give up on them until he figured out what demons she was fighting on a daily basis.

The slight shaking of her head was all the answer Seth was going to get from her. He stood up to position himself better on the bed, but he felt her hand clasped around his wrist preventing him from standing. He moved closer to her she crashed into him, snaking her arms around his waist and pulling him into a hug. He could feel her trembling and instinctively his hands made their way across her back and he pulled her closer into him and hugged her tightly in return. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours until she had stopped shaking and he decided to return to his room.

"Please don't leave me," she whispered to him and when Seth saw the broken look on her face, he was powerless to resist. He pushed her until she was laying on her side facing him and positioned himself next to her, laid one hand under her head and the other across her waist as he pulled her into him. The feel of her warm breath on his cool skin did nothing to curb his imagination and he closed his eyes and tried to commit the feeling to memory, lest he never got another chance with her. She slept through the night after that, though Seth could feel her hands gripping his clothes tightly every time he tried to adjust his position.

By the time morning rolled around, Seth woke up to find her side of the bed empty and cold. He cracked one eye open and saw the folded note addressed to him on the side table. He read it and cursed softly knowing it was going to be a while before he saw her again…if he ever did.

0 o 0 o 0

Three weeks had passed since the fundraiser and while Maya was uneasy with the prospect of attending a six year old child's birthday party and she could not shake the uneasy feeling that had risen in her chest that morning, she had decided she was going to attend this one. Usually she was all for parties and celebrations around this time of the year, as long as she did not have to attend, but Rachel had asked her all those weeks ago and Maya simply did not have the heart to refuse the squirt. She would have to deal with her own issues when she had a chance, this was Rachel's day and nothing was going to spoil it. The knock on her door alerted her that House was ready and waiting for her, and she could not help the smile that crept to her lips at his impatience and excitement of wanting to attend the kid's party.

She grabbed the wrapped present she had bought a couple of days ago and headed to the door, swung it open and came face to face with a beaming House. They arrived at Cuddy's residence half an hour later and House got out of the car as soon as it had come to a stop, grabbing all the gifts he had unceremoniously shoved onto the back seat of the car. Maya stayed where she was in the driver's seat, her chest heaving with the difficulty she was having with breathing. A few deep, calm breaths later, she was tranquil enough to get make the journey to Cuddy's front door. When she finally reached the doorway, House was still standing there, looking at her oddly. She stopped him from asking her what was going on when she saw Rachel bounded in his direction, her face glowing with happiness.

"Maya," she came to a stop in front of Maya and then turned to face House, who was trying to keep a stern expression on his face.

"Daddy," she whispered and House smiled at her before he led her back inside to where everyone else was gathered.

"Ah, I see you have finally decided to grace us with your presence," Wilson offered in greeting and House simply glared at him.

The rest of House's friends were also there, as well as a few of Rachel's friends and their parents. Cameron was seated with a few girls who were around Rachel's age and were excitedly rubbing her abdomen, which had started to show. Chase was watching his fiancée with a dopey grin on his face, and Maya was sure if House was standing anywhere near the blonde doctor, he would have already slapped him on the back of his head. Cuddy was nowhere to be seen, though House heard her voice coming from the kitchen when she called Wilson to help her with the snacks and party packs for the kids. House walked over to her, ready to help her with whatever she wanted him to do, when he saw Seth in the kitchen helping and he retreated to the lounge without saying a word, leaving her confused.

House pulled Maya down with him as he seated himself on the sofa Cameron was seated on, though he strategically placed Maya between himself and the blonde woman, and wrapped his arm around Maya's waist, as he made sure Cuddy watched him closely. In true House fashion they had not continued the night as he had promised, simply because he had got a new patient and Cuddy was so busy whenever he tried to talk to her about it. He was sure she liked him and he definitely liked her, but there was something holding her back and he wanted to find out what it was, but being House, he just couldn't ask her directly he had to annoy her first and then get her to admit it to him.

"Cameron, I think the name Peyton will suit your unborn daughter more than Nathan would, but that's just my personal opinion," Maya mused loud enough for Chase to hear her and frown in response.

"Excuse me," she could not miss the blonde man's accent, "how would you know if it's a boy or a girl?" he asked.

"Just a guess," and then she was quiet again.

Cuddy shifted uncomfortably as she watched House and Maya got into an intimate conversation and she couldn't help the burning sensation that rose in her chest. She was jolted out of her thoughts when she felt Rachel pulling on her arm asking if she could cut her birthday cake already, now that Uncle House was here. Cuddy nodded her head and retreated to the kitchen to get her daughter's cake. She retuned a few minutes later with a fairy cake complete with wings and a five tiered dress made of icing sugar.

After two renditions of Happy Birthday had been sun and the birthday cake had been cut and eaten, Cuddy saw House heading in the direction of Rachel's bedroom and took two steps in his direction, intending to follow him, but stopped and reconsidered her decision when she saw Maya trace his steps. She knew he hated social events, and even this being Rachel's birthday party was no exception – he just did not do well with socialising with other people and Cuddy knew he had already endured more than his fair share for the day. Her mind was running into overdrive at the thought of what they could be doing in her daughter's room, but Cuddy had no intention of walking in there, creating a scene and ruining her daughter's party because of a little jealousy she harboured toward House's girlfriend.

"Is it over already? Those kids are like little tyrants running all over the damn place," House asked and Maya shook her head.

"It's a birthday party Greg and they're kids that is how they're supposed to behave," she replied taking a seat on the bed next to his supine body.

"Yeah, well they're giving me a headache," he griped.

"You are such a whiner, Greg" Maya replied as she swatted his leg gently.

"Can't you just endure it… for Rachel?" she asked and at the mention of the sprog's name House's lip curled into a smile. Yeah he supposed he could just deal with it for the little girl's happiness.

"You know she's pretty demanding for a little girl, and I'll bet she's going to be a snotty little brat once she starts grade school," House mused loudly, knowing he would get a rise out of Maya for that statement.

"She's a five year old, Greg," Maya gasped in shock at his statement and swatted at him but he was ready for her and grabbed her wrist as she lowered her hand to make contact with his chest, and he pulled her across his lean torso. Her breath caught in her throat at his reaction and while she knew he would not try anything with her, she was still very conscious of their compromising position.

"Are you freaking crazy, Jackass?" she hissed at him, and he smiled lazily at her.

"Just thought I'd give you a bit of your own medicine," he replied after a short silence and Maya had to think back on what he was talking about. It took her a few minutes to remember the stunt she pulled in his apartment three weeks ago, when she had stated he had no self control when it came to women, almost kissed him and then left him confused, alone and most importantly aroused in his apartment, with nothing but his left hand.

They were both stunned when they heard Seth's voice float into the room, alerting them that the rest of the folk were headed to play outside in the snow before it got too cold and too dark to do so.

"Seth, oh my God!" House exclaimed loudly, hoping to get the other man to actually enter Rachel's bedroom.

"I can explain…" he continued when Seth didn't say anything.

"It's exactly what it looks like, she was trying to jump me," House voice was high pitched sounding like a high school girl trying to explain sleeping with her best friend's boyfriend. Seth shook his head, smiled at Maya and made his way outside to where Cuddy and the rest of the group were standing.

He had tried to talk to Maya about the night she had spent at his home and her nightmares, but she had waved it off as though it was no bog deal, but Seth knew better. There was something bugging her, he could see it in her eyes, but he kept his word and didn't question her any further on the subject.

Maya was the first to react and she untangled herself from House's grasp, neatened her clothes and stepped out of Rachel's room without helping the now laughing diagnostician.

They stood in a huddled circle on Cuddy's front lawn, which was blanketed with a think layer of soft white snow. Wilson, Chase, Seth and a few other men were engaged in a discussion about whether women's mud wrestling was actually a turn on or not, while Cuddy, Cameron, Amber and a few other women were talking softly about heath, pregnancy and baby issues that came along with the bundle of joys themselves. Cuddy and Cameron had somehow moved past the relationship of just boss and employee and had become friends over the last few years, and the unexpected arrival of Maya only strengthened their friendship, with both of them wanting the other woman to disappear from their lives or more specifically House's life.

House was standing a few feet away from both groups, his gaze focused on the group of kids building a snowman and giggling every time Rachel placed a thin tree branch next to it which didn't stand, and finally when she poked in a huge carrot for the nose. He couldn't help the grin that automatically made its way to his lips and he was remembered the last time Rachel – with Maya's help – had built a snowman at the park. Even then she had created it to resemble him, and he was reminded of the talk he and Maya had shared, or actually Maya had talked and he had simply listened. He looked at the little girl in her bright red sweater and blue jeans, a multi-coloured beanie gracing her head and she turned to look at him as if she sensed his attention on her and graced him with a thousand watt smile.

He immediately felt the pull in his chest and he knew he wanted to be the man she would call Daddy, he wanted to be the man who wiped away her tears, the father who terrorised her first boyfriend and every one after him if they ever decided to hurt his little girl's feelings, the one who would walk her down the aisle to marry the man who was brave enough to take House on, but he would never admit it, not to anyone, and especially not to Cuddy. Despite their many shared moments together, it was not enough for her, she needed someone who could make her happy, and he figured he was not the man who could do that.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice Maya walk over to him, and settle herself on the long steel table he was already seated on. She followed his line of sight and was amused when she saw he was focused on Rachel, intently watching every move she made, and she knew he was committing it to his memory. She nudged him gently, bringing him out of his thoughts, and when he turned to face her she saw the blush that crept up his cheeks at being caught, though he would later blame it on the cold weather.

"Face it Stud, you can't imagine your life without her," it was a statement he had to agree with; he could not imagine not having the little squirt around. Sure she was a pain in the neck at times, but all kids were like that, and she had grown on him in the short time they had spent together.

"Actually I've made it this long, a few more years won't make a difference," he replied quickly, trying with immense difficulty to hide the emotion in his voice, but from the expression on her face, he knew Maya knew he was lying.

"So in a few years when Cuddy decides she's found the man who can keep her and Rachel happy, and its not you, you're not going to have any objection to it, and you're not going to crash her dates, or show up on her doorstep late at night and interrupt family time and do all the insane things you do now?" she asked and House found he could not answer her. The thought that Cuddy would consider getting married to someone even if House didn't like him hadn't crossed his mind… until now.

A few minutes of silence passed before House saw Rachel racing to him, a snowball grasped tightly in her hand, and ready to be launched in his direction. He glared at her but the little girl didn't take heed of it, and kept hurtling in his direction. As she neared the table, House kneeled to her height and caught her unawares. Maya watched as he whispered something into the little girl's ear and she turned to face the direction her mother was standing in. Rachel, however, was adamant that she was not going to throw any kind of ammunition at her mother, she knew what Cuddy was like when she was all riled up, and Rachel did not want to be on the receiving end of a temper tantrum. She returned to her friends who were waging battle with small snowballs.

"Stud, maybe you should go and ask her," Maya's voice cut into House's thoughts and he turned to look quizzically at her.

"Ask her what?"

"A little bird told me you were ready."

"A little bird named Rachel," she clarified when he looked confusedly at her.

And with that Maya pulled out a small navy velvet box from her pocket, and handed it to him. He gaped at her, speechless. Maya took his hand in hers and placed the now open box in it. The ring was absolutely perfect. A thin platinum band with three small diamonds set into it, and sized to fit Cuddy's finger, he assumed.

"Don't worry, I can assure you, The She Devil picked this one out herself, I just had it sized to her finger. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be, actually. Cuddy's one of the least fussy women I've come across when it comes to jewellery," Maya stated tonelessly. "I also think this would suit her perfectly, she doesn't need anything big to show she's taken, just a small token, something sophisticated, classy, dainty," Maya continued as House still stared at the ring in his hand.

"I am not going to ask her in front of so many people," was the only thing he could think of saying.

"Oh and he's not denying it," she smiled at him.

"Oh come on, Stud. It's not the world is going to come to an end if you ask her," Maya reasoned but House was set in decision. "Come on I'll demonstrate and even tell you what to say," she said and led him two feet away from the table. She kneeled on one knee held the ring in one hand and House's hand in her other.

"I Greg House, also known as God in your world," Maya started, "have decided to relinquish my hold and power over my kingdom to form an allegiance with you… I pledge my undying loyalty to" she started but a fit of giggles kept her from actually completing the act.

It was at that precise moment Cuddy turned to see what House was up to and she saw the box in Maya's hand. Her heart immediately plummeted into her stomach, and she felt the tears prickle in the corners of her eyes. She should have known it was too good to be true, House wasn't really interested in her, it was only because he had seen Seth as a threat, now that Seth was out of thee picture, House's interest had diminished too.

Maya stood up and brushed the snow off her knee, and turned to close the distance between herself and House, not aware of the people now staring at them their minds running at a hundred miles a minute.

"Actually, I would casually walk up behind her, accidentally bump my shoulder into her and when she turns to look at me with that famous glare, I would hand her the ring and just say, "I think twenty years is a long time of foreplay, what do you think?" and walk away," Maya informed him and that sounded like a better way to do it.

The lanky man turned to face his boss, not realising she was now standing two feet away from him. He could see her chest rapidly rising and falling, her eyes filled with unshed tears, and her lower lip quivering, much like Rachel's did the first night she stayed over at his apartment. He wondered if she had even heard their conversation, but judging by her expression he was almost sure she did not.

"Cuddy, its not what…" House started but Cuddy waved her hand in his direction and caused him to stop speaking.

"It doesn't matter what I think, House," she replied and House heard the pain in her voice.

"Dr Cuddy," Maya tried but before Cuddy could respond they all heard Cameron's panic stricken voice screaming for Rachel.

None of them had even noticed the kids were now playing on the street and that Rachel was standing in the path of an oncoming car. She was rooted to the spot, too shocked or too scared to even move as the car approached at high speed. Time seemed to slow down and speed up at the same time, they were all moving in slow motion toward the little girl and the car was approaching her too quickly for their liking. Maya could hear her blood pounding in her ears and she felt her heart as it thundered beneath her ribcage. She stood watching helplessly as the car approached.

It was Cuddy's heart piercing, gut wrenching scream that broke the spell and without thinking Maya launched herself in Rachel's direction as fast as she could. She cussed at her stupidity of wearing stiletto heeled boots in this weather, making it difficult for her to move, but she did not give up trying. She reached Rachel seconds before the car and wrapped her body protectively around the little girl, shielding her from the brunt impact of the car. Maya felt a blinding pain in her chest as she landed face up on the tarred road, with Rachel still clasped safely in her grip.

"Hey kid, you okay?" she asked breathlessly and Rachel nodded her head, too scared to speak. The squirt was fine, that was all that mattered.

Cuddy was the first to reach Maya and she noted the younger woman was breathing heavily, as though it took all her effort to take the next breath.

"Oh God," Cuddy whispered and Maya released her death grip on Rachel and took a hold of Cuddy's hand. When the Doctor looked up at her Maya shook her head, indicating that now was not the time for blame or panic.

They arrived at PPTH twenty minutes later in the back of an ambulance, Maya already started on an IV and pain meds. She had blood all over her; her left wrist was lying at an odd angle and the gash on her head was still oozing profusely. They had managed to wheel her halfway to the ER when she passed out. House was pacing the length of the corridor when Cameron finally emerged from there, with news. Rachel was fine, except for the scrape on the back of her hand and the shock. Maya on the other hand was a bit more serious. It turned out she had fractured a few ribs, punctured her right lung and was now unconscious for at least half an hour.

The prognosis did not look good at all.

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Thank you for reading and once again I apologise for the previous disappointing chapter. Hope this one made you guys smile and re ignited your love for it.

Leave a review on your way out, letting me know if I should continue or not.

The next one is partially done, but I don't know how long it will take, seeing as I am currently working on an NCIS fic and another House MD fic. It should be before the end of this month, though I am not promising anything.

Smiles

Dyslexic & pysch


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter 1

**A/N:** So here's chapter 15 for you guys. Most of it was taken from the previous version, but there have been many changes too. I had every intention of completing this fic with this chapter, but my muse went and got a few new ideas of her own. I hope you guys enjoy… until the next update… yes yes there will be another chapter for those of you who do want one.

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Chapter 15

Maya looked worse now than the day she had been brought into the emergency room almost three weeks ago. Her skin was now pale, and tight, and her bones were protruding from her body while her clothes hung off her tiny frame, making her look thinner than she actually was. House had made sure that morning though, that the nurses had covered her with an extra blanket, seeing as her skin had taken on a blue tinge and she was cold to the touch, though her heartbeat and pulse were strong. Her wounds had healed well, too House noted. She was lying delicately on the too big bed, her hands resting on top of the stark white blanket, her chest rising and falling with the help of a ventilator in tune to the heart monitor that was attached to her chest via leads.

"Have any of her family or friends come in to see her?" Wilson asked and Cuddy shook her head.

"She did not have an emergency contact listed and there were no details of her parents or any other relatives. It was a miracle that we somehow managed to track down a friend who is South America at the moment, and he will only be returning a few days from today. I checked out her apartment and found…" Chase started but was interrupted.

"Nothing personal except her clothes, and quite a few bottles of alcohol. There were no pictures of her, or family anywhere in her apartment," Cuddy finished and Wilson looked at her quizzically.

"We made a pit stop at her apartment the night of the fundraiser, so I could get a change of clothes," Cuddy offered and Wilson nodded his head. House sat silently in his corner, listening to the conversation around him.

Maya hadn't told him about that, and a smile crept up his lips at the thought that crossed his mind. The dark eyed woman would have definitely led him to believe she and Cuddy had engaged in things that did not include looking for a dress, instead maybe peeling it off each other's bodies…yeah the ultimate male fantasy. He shook his head, as though the thought would disappear with the motion, unfortunately it didn't, but he forced it out of his mind anyway. There were other things to be thinking about at this point in time.

"She mentioned something about her brother living in Washington State, but that was years ago, she wasn't sure if he was still there," Seth offered and they all looked at him incredulously. She hadn't shared anything personal with any of the others, so why did she share it with Seth?

"She's so young, she should not be here in the ICU fighting for her damn life," Cuddy said softly, but the room was so quiet all the occupants heard her.

Wilson was the first to respond, "It was not your fault Lisa, we were all there, she was just the first to react to the situation," he said, trying to stop his boss from blaming herself for the condition Maya was in.

"Rachel is MY daughter James, I should have been watching her instead of keeping my attention focused on… other things," she focused her gaze on House, who was still tenderly holding onto Maya's hand, as she completed her sentence. There was definitely something more than friendship going on between those two, and Cuddy was not sure if she was happy for her friend or not.

"Would you rather it was Rachel lying here instead of Maya?" he asked honestly and Cuddy could only shake her head. She obviously did not want to see her five year old daughter lying on a bed hooked up to life saving machines in her mother's hospital fighting for her life, but that did not mean she wanted anyone else fighting for theirs because of her daughter either.

"It was an accident Dr Cuddy, it happened in a spilt second, no one could have known this would be the outcome," Cameron said, it was the first thing she had said the entire time she had been there. While she too was not a fan of Maya's she was definitely grateful for the younger woman's act of bravery. If it were anyone else, she doubted they would've saved Rachel's life without any thought.

"Son of a bitch…" the four doctors turned their heads to the source of the voice and they were surprised to see a man standing in the doorway to Maya's room, his hands bunched in a fist and his jaw clenching with rage.

"I'm sorry who are you?" Cameron asked the tall, well built, bald, blue eyed man still hovering in the doorway, but the man simply could not take his eyes off Maya.

"Special Agent Liam Cahill, the guy you people contacted in case of emergency," he held up his badge with his ID and replied without a smile.

"We were informed you were returning to the States only next week," Wilson informed the man who was now approaching the bed and eying House intently.

"Yeah, plans changed. What happened to her and how long has she been like this?" he asked somewhat harshly and this time it was Cuddy who answered.

"She was hit by a drunk driver three weeks ago, but there is nothing to worry about, the surgery went well and her injuries have healed perfectly," Cuddy found she could not continue.

"If she's fine then why is she still here, hooked up to all these tubes and machines?" Liam asked pointing at the various things that were attached to Maya's body.

"Because we're waiting for her to wake up. She went into a come shortly after surgery to her right lung which had been pierced by one of her ribs in the accident and she hasn't woken up since," Chase finished for Cuddy.

"How long could that take?"

"A few days, a couple of weeks, maybe even years," Cameron informed Liam, "the truth is we never know with cases like these," she finished.

Liam ran his hand over her cheek, not missing the look House shot him as he did so, and smiled softly to himself. This was definitely the Greg House he was so impatient to meet; Maya had been talking about him for a good few weeks, and he could see what had interested her in him. He was so closed off to the world and yet his eyes said everything and Liam could not help the feeling that meeting Maya had changed House's world and vice versa. She had also told him that she was not romantically interested in him, simply because he was in love with another woman, who had a child House clearly adored.

Liam looked at the other doctors in the room and his gaze settled on Cuddy who was nervously twirling an elastic band between her fingers while her gaze was focused intently on House. Liam knew in that moment she was the woman House was in love with. He also took note of the lone figure standing in the far corner of the room, as far away from Maya's bed as possible and he recognised Seth instantly. When Maya had told him she had finally met someone she could talk to, someone that she could possibly have fallen in love with, Liam had not believed her, but as she told him more and more about Seth, Liam began to believe this was really the man she had been waiting for all this time.

"Special Agent Cahill, I'm sorry but I have to ask you, what course of action would you like to take now?" and Liam tore his gaze away from Seth and looked dumbfounded at Wilson.

"Excuse me?"

"You have to let us know whether we should keep her on the ventilator or let her go."

House stood up to argue his point once again, but was quickly cut off by Wilson, "Remember her waking up could take years," he reiterated and House could see the cogs of Liam's brain turning.

"He's not her medical proxy," House said loudly, "he is just her emergency medical contact; he does not get to make the decision to end her life. He has no right," it was clear, House was not interested in what the other doctors had to say on Maya's condition, and there was no way he was going to give up without a fight, and Liam had to admit he liked that about House.

"She left a few instructions with me just in case anything of this sort happened to her, I'll have to look at them before I can give you guys my final decision," Liam informed them before he gave House a determined look and then he exited Maya's room, followed by Cuddy who was hot on his heels. He wanted to see just how far he could push Dr House before the other man reacted to him.

"Special Agent Cahill," she called out and he stopped and turned to face her, taking in the pained expression on her face. There was more to the story than what the male doctor had told him.

"I'm Dr Cuddy," she held out her hand in greeting. "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions, about Maya" she continued when he did not say anything.

"You can call me Liam and yes, you can definitely question me about Maya, but I can't guarantee that I'm going to answer all of them," he replied and a small smile tugged on the corner of his mouth.

She led him to her office and they each took a seat, Cuddy at her desk and Liam in one of the unoccupied chairs across her, where she asked him whatever she wanted to know about the younger woman, and in fact found out little more than she already knew. He didn't tell her much about Maya's past, he didn't seem to know much about her family either or what had happened to her that had landed her a three year stint in rehab. All she did know now was that Maya was part of an elite task team that required the utmost secrecy and the most skilled agents in the world, and that her speciality was with firearms. And that Anna was an ex-wife of one of the guys on their team, and who assumed Maya was having an affair with her husband.

Cuddy thanked Special Agent Cahill for his time and walked him out of her office, while her mind still reeled with the information he had just shared with her about Maya. Cuddy, for the life of her, had not expected Maya to be part of an elite task force, let alone a specialist in weapons and specifically guns. Well that certainly explained the bruises she had witnessed on Maya's body on a few occasions, though neither House nor Maya ever mentioned them to her. Now she also understood why Maya was away for such long periods of time, it was not because she wanted to be away, it was simply because her job demanded it of her.

She pulled up Maya's file on her computer screen and read through the details of her injuries and treatment. She didn't know what she was looking for, seeing as she knew the chart by heart. She had studied Maya's charts on an hourly basis, every time something had changed. After an hour of looking Cuddy finally gave up, there was nothing new and even a few calls to rehab centres in and around the Princeton area revealed nothing about the mysterious young woman still lying unconscious in a hospital bed. It had been a tiring and fruitless day for everyone and all Cuddy wanted to do was go home and hold her daughter, to reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

After everyone had gone home and the night staff had already checked on all their patients, Cuddy had decided to do one last check up on Maya. She slid the door open as noiselessly as she could and poked her head inside. She was not surprised to find House still there, what she was surprised to find was that House had positioned himself on Maya's bed, aligning his body in perfect symmetry to hers and was whispering calmly to the unconscious woman as he ran a finger up and down the length of her arm. Cuddy knew she should not stand there, but she was powerless to move, and so she heard part of what he had to say.

"You know I didn't think you were going to have an impact on my life when I met you in your ass hugging jeans, fitted sweaters and do me heels, just under three months ago. Boy did you prove me wrong. I didn't think I'd fall in love again either, but you showed me it was all in my head… I was making myself miserable for no reason other than I was too chicken to deal with emotional stuff," he continued, but Cuddy could not hear any more of what he had to say.

Her mind instantly went back to the day Maya was hit by the drunk driving jackass outside her home and the minutes preceding the accident she was asking House to marry her. He was declaring his undying love for a woman he barely knew, and who for all they knew was not going to live long either. She angrily swiped away at the tears that had fallen from the corners of her eyes, and made her way back to her office, and then to her waiting daughter at home. Maybe she would put Rachel to bed early and drown her sorrows in a bottle of Vodka, or Scotch or well whatever she could get her hands on.

House left a few hours later, after being kicked out of Maya's room for the third time that night by Thirteen no less. The diagnostician had no idea Cuddy had overheard his one sided conversation with Maya. He glared at the green eyed doctor before exiting Maya's room, with Thirteen right behind him. She had yelled at him a few times for him to go home and get some rest. It was not like Maya was going to go anywhere anytime soon and House found that the green eyed doctor was right. He needed to sleep; even of it was for a couple of hours.

"If anything changes, you page me," he ordered his lackey before he exited the hospital building and made his way home. He knew sleep was not going to visit him that night, so he pulled out the bottle of scotch and settled down in front of the TV with it. One shot turned into two and two into three and pretty soon three quarters of the bottle was empty. He woke up the next morning with no recollection of when he went to sleep or how he even made it all the way to his bed.

The next two days passed in a haze for both House and Cuddy who were caught up in their respective work. House's team had caught a case, which was proving to be a problem for his underlings because they were somewhat incompetent and House's attention was not focused on their patient but on Maya and Cuddy had to catch up on all the paperwork that had not been completed the year before. Neither of them had spent as much time as they wanted at Maya's bedside and even though Cuddy wanted to dislike the woman, she found that she could not, for the simple fact that Maya had given her own life, without any question, in exchange for Rachel's. Still, it hurt to hear House declare his feelings for a woman that was not her.

Liam had showed up two days later; just after House and his team had left for the day. He walked toward Maya's room, his stride long and purposeful, and a glint of determination in his gaze. He came to a stop outside Maya's room, where he saw Dr Chase monitoring her heart and breath rate.

"Dr Chase, right?" he asked and the blonde man turned to face him.

"Yes," Chase's face was devoid of any expression.

"Maya gave me these when we started working together, and she said if anything ever had to happen to her, I was to hand this to the doctor attending to her," Liam handed Chase the stack of papers he was holding and the blonde doctor drew in a sharp breath when he saw the topmost document. House was most certainly not going to like the way things were heading, and he would kill Chase if anything happened to Maya. Chase did not like the situation he suddenly found himself in.

"Are you sure this is what she wants?" Chase asked uncertainly and Liam nodded his head.

"People usually change their minds about things like this," he continued after a short tense silence.

"Maya and I talked about this, and she was adamant that she did not want to be kept alive with the help of machines just because people didn't want to let her go. This is what she feared," Liam admitted while he pointed at the tubes and machines Maya was hooked up to and Chase nodded his head in understanding.

"I am going to have to let Dr House know what's going on," Chase informed Liam but Liam shook his head indicating he did not agree with the long haired blonde doctor.

"Do you really want him to come and witness you switch off her ventilator. Do you want him to watch as she takes her final breath? From the way Maya described him to me, Dr Chase, I don't think Dr House will be able to handle it," Liam told him and Chase pondered on the thought for a few minutes. No matter how pissed he knew his former boss was going to be with him, Chase knew there was no way House was going to survive watching as they switched off Maya's ventilator. He had barely survived her being knocked by the idiot teenaged drunk driver.

"Even if I don't inform Dr House about this, I am going to have to tell Dr Cuddy though I'm not certain she won't tell him about it," Chase spoke up after a short silence. "Also if it's okay with you, I'd like to wait one more day, just to give them time to say goodbye," Chase continued.

"That seems like a reasonable request to me Dr Chase; I will see you tomorrow then. Is it okay if I spend a bit of time with her now though?" Liam asked and Chase nodded his head.

Liam stepped into the room and made his way toward the bed. He picked up Maya's hand in his and ran his finger down the side of her face, talking softly to her, assuring her that everything was going to be okay. He took notice of the man currently occupying the seat Dr House was sitting in two days ago, and smiled sadly at Seth. He sat with her for almost an hour before Chase returned with Wilson and Cameron in tow. They had decided not to call Cuddy because calling Cuddy meant calling House and House didn't need to be there to hear what they were discussing.

"What was so damn important that you had to interrupt my consult with a patient?" Wilson huffed as Chase closed the door to Maya's room with a sweep of his arm.

A few tense seconds of silence passed before Chase began speaking. "Our dear friend Maya has signed a DNR form, so it really doesn't matter whether Liam here is her medical proxy or not," he informed Wilson.

It took a while for his mind to register and process the information it had just been fed, and when the oncologist finally did the colour drained from his face.

"Does House know about the DNR?" he asked and both Liam and Chase shook their heads.

"We actually weren't planning on telling him about it, but since Cuddy is the Dean of Medicine here, she has to be informed about it and once she knows I doubt she's going to keep that information to herself," Chase mused loudly.

"You people do realise that House will kill you if something happens to her right?" Seth piped up from his seat.

"What I suggest is wait for a day or two the most and then make a decision, its not like she's going anywhere any time soon. Let House know what you guys are thinking and see how he feels about it before you make this life altering decision, because I can guarantee you, in a few weeks from now Maya not being around will not have any impact on your lives, but it'll certainly have one on House's life," Seth suggested. Cameron agreed with Seth and it seemed like Chase was rapidly warming up to the idea as well, it seemed Wilson was the only one who still needed convincing.

"I think it's settled then, we wait a couple more days and if there is still no improvement I will talk to Dr Cuddy and Dr House and we'll take it from there," Liam stated as he took back the folder he had given to Chase earlier, and made his way out of the room.

"You're only prolonging House's misery," were the first words that escaped Wilson's mouth as soon as the door was shut.

"He's not ready to give up just yet, Wilson," Cameron defended, "and quite frankly I agree with him, I have to admit I am not a huge fan of Maya's but I am not ready to pull the plug on her. I think we should wait, she's a fighter, she'll pull through," Cameron stated before she too turned her back and exited the room.

"I guess the decision's been made then," Chase shrugged his shoulders and followed Cameron's footsteps, leaving Wilson alone with Seth and Maya. Wilson for once had nothing to say and excused himself from the room to get back to his patient.

Another day passed with no improvement in Maya's condition and Chase was starting to think he had made the wrong decision when he had agreed to wait a few more days. "Maybe Wilson was right, maybe she was never going to wake up from this," he thought to himself. The damage an extra day of hoping would cost House dearly, Chase knew that and suddenly he was questioning his every decision regarding Maya. He hung up the bag of saline solution; made sure her needle was still inserted in the correct place, made a few observations on her chart for the doctor and then made his way out of the room.

Thirty eight hours later, after a long and exceptionally boring shift of clinic duty, House was about ready to leave the hospital on favour of collapsing onto his couch with two or more Vicodin pills and a bottle of scotch to chase it down. He had seen way too much crotch rot and runny noses than he could possibly deal for the day. He also hadn't seen Rachel in two weeks and he was beginning to worry that she would not want to see him after a while. With that fear running through his mind, unconsciously made his way to Maya's room and was surprised when he got there. He heaved in a deep breath before taking the first step inside the small room.

"You look like hell, Stud," her voice was scratchy though she managed to give him a thousand watt smile.

"I could say the same about you," he replied, a small smile making its way to his lips in reply to hers.

"Welcome back to the land of the conscious, we thought you took up a permanent residence in other places," he teased her and she noted the relief in his eyes.

"How long have I been here?" she asked him, and reached out for the glass of water on the bedside table.

"About three weeks, really looked like you were getting comfortable" he answered nonchalantly, not wanting to make a fuss of it, or scare her while he hit her hand away from the glass and instead placed an ice chip on her lips.

"When did you wake up and why didn't anyone page me?"

"Around an hour ago, I heard you were doing clinic duty and I just could not disturb you. Besides 'The She Devil" would kicked your ass if you skipped out on another day of clinic duty because of me," she laughed heartily and House found he couldn't stay angry at her for long. Damn he had missed her.

"Speaking of the 'She Devil' how is the Devil's spawn?" despite her attempt at humour House noted the worry in her voice.

"Apart from just a scratch on her arm and the shock, she's doing well," he answered as honestly as he could, seeing as he hadn't seen the kid in almost two weeks. "Last time I spoke to her, she couldn't wait to see you."

"What about you?"

"Feels like I've been run over," she grinned widely though House was not amused.

Maya was about to say something else to cheer him up when Chase and Wilson walked into the room, discussing something very serious when Chase stopped in his tracks, his eyes focused on the scene before him. Wilson, who was not paying attention bumped into Chase only to find the younger man's attention focused some place else. He followed Chases line of sight and was equally as shocked when he saw House perched comfortably on Maya's bed, both caught up deep in conversation. He did a double take just to be sure, but nothing had changed, Maya was indeed very much alive and awake, talking animatedly to House.

Soon enough House's team, Chase, Cameron and Wilson were gathered around Maya's bed, talking and asking her questions. Maya had kicked Taub and Foreman out though because of Foreman's lack of humour and Taub just so that he could keep Foreman company.

"Wilson thought you weren't going to make it, he was going to pull the plug on you," House informed Maya, much to Wilson's shame. "But I never gave up on you, I knew you'd fight it, you just could not leave me in peace, could you?" he continued when she did not say anything and smiled at his last comment.

"It was a question of what was best…" Wilson started but Maya stopped him with the simple shake of her head.

It went on for almost an hour before Nurse Brenda had to come in and ban them from all visiting her at the same time. Thirteen and Kutner were the first to leave, followed by Wilson who was still grasping the fact that she had actually woken up, despite everything indicating that she would not. She really was something. Cameron and Chase stepped out ten minutes later, with Cameron glowing and Chase smiling shyly and Wilson could only wonder what she had told them. He waited a few more minutes for House, but when he turned to look, it was clear House was not leaving her alone for the night; he had already set up an extra bed in her room and was currently lying flat on his back on it.

Two more days passed and she was more than ready to leave the hospital despite Chase's advice that she was still in danger. She had noticed all of them had come in to visit her, brought her things they'd thought she'd like and kept her company when they had a free minute or two. Even Liam had come in to see her, bringing her stories of her colleagues and their antics. After an hour during his third visit she convinced him to take her home, and he agreed, he would, only if House said it was okay to do so. She knew she could count on him. The only two people she had not seen since she woke up was Lisa Cuddy and Seth Reid, and while Maya was told Seth had to go to D.C. for business she not sure why Cuddy had not come up to visit her.

Maya dressed herself as best she could with the clothes Thirteen had brought from her apartment three weeks ago and walked to the first floor, asking a few nurses for directions to Dr Cuddy's office. When she finally arrived at the double doors, Maya heaved in a deep breath, and contemplated if this was what she wanted to do. She braced herself and pushed her way in, much in the same manner as House. She barged through the second set of doors just as loudly as she had the first and she heard Cuddy's voice.

"Whatever harebrained idea you have for treating your patient, House, I'm not interested. Find something that does not involve brain biopsy and then come back to me," she said automatically and Maya had a feeling Cuddy said those words on a daily basis. When Cuddy didn't hear the protest or her doors closing she looked up, only to see the one person she was not expecting to see, standing across her desk.

Cuddy took in her appearance, even with the abrasions to her face and hands, Maya still looked as pretty as ever. It was no wonder House had fallen in love with her, Cuddy angrily thought to herself, though she had no idea if she was furious at herself for falling in love with Maya or with herself for allowing him to do so right in front of her eyes. Her ensemble consisted of a pair of hip hugging, bootlegged blue jeans, and a navy blue fitted turtleneck sweater with loud, obnoxious print on the front that read, 'Please take a number and stick it up your ass!', and Cuddy had to admit the logo fitted Maya's personalty quite well. A pair of four inch stiletto heeled, pointy toed, knee high black leather boots adorned her feet.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were checking me out," Maya's voice broke the silence and Cuddy's silver-grey orbs were pinned by Maya's black eyes when she finally met Maya's gaze. Cuddy could feel the heat rising from her neck to her cheeks and ears and she had no doubt that Maya would not miss the blush that made its presence known on the Dean's face.

"You're looking better than when I last saw you," Cuddy noted and Maya nodded her head.

"Yeah well, three days of actually eating real food and breathing fresh air kinda does that to you," she replied and Cuddy noted the humour and the unvoiced question that showed in Maya's expression.

What was she supposed to tell Maya, that she had been avoiding her because she had overheard House admitting he was in love with her, or because she was jealous of the woman? But those were petty excuses and she knew it.

"The reason I didn't come up to see you was because I had no idea how to thank you for saving my daughter's life," Cuddy admitted. She had thought of how to thank Maya for risking her life to save Rachel's when she finally woke up, but Cuddy knew she would find the right words that would express her gratitude to the other woman.

"There was nothing to it, it was a matter of life or death for the sprog, I chose life," Maya replied casually but Cuddy had seen the flash that passed through Maya's eyes, and she decided she wanted to know what exactly had spurred Maya's choice to save Rachel's life.

"Not everyone would have made the same decision you did, in fact from what I remember of that day, no one had even tried. You were the only one making an insane attempt to keep Rachel from getting hurt."

"Yeah well, she's a cute kid, I couldn't resist," Maya grinned but Cuddy's expression alerted her that she was trying to have a serious conversation with her but she was not ready to have that conversation just yet.

"Anyway, the reason I came down here was to let you know that as much as I love being here I'm leaving and I wanted to thank you for everything you and your staff have done for me, Dr Cuddy."

"Did House okay your discharge forms because as far as I know, you're not in any condition to leave until next week. He still wants to run a few tests to make sure you're fully recovered before he sings your discharge papers." Cuddy asked and informed Maya at the same time.

"Greg's worry wort, he gets concerned about the smallest things. And besides I spoke to Drs. Cameron and Chase and they said I was good to go, I just have to keep an eye on the wrist," she held up her left hand and Cuddy looked at the plaster of Paris she and Wilson had cast on Maya's fractured wrist the day she had been brought in. "Three more weeks and this baby will be gone, and I will be able to do everything I used to before," she waved her wrist around in the air, and Cuddy smiled despite herself. House was right, Maya was a fighter and it seemed nothing could get her spirits down.

"I take it you haven't told House you're discharging yourself then," Cuddy asked Maya and indicated that she hadn't in fact told him anything. "You do realise he's not going to let you go without a fight," the words left Cuddy's mouth before she could think about what she was saying and Maya stopped what she was doing, and stared wide eyed at Cuddy.

"I wouldn't be too worried about that, I'll probably be in another country by the time he realises I'm missing. Besides, I'm not the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Greg's already seen what he's been missing out on, and now that he's experienced what he's been denying himself first hand, I don't think he wants to let go of it," Maya informed a confused Cuddy.

"Dr Cuddy, Gregory House has no romantic interest in me, and I can guarantee you that I have absolutely no intention of having a romantic relationship with the man," Maya tried to assure Cuddy, but it looked like she did not believe the younger woman.

"Of course you guys don't, the proposal was a joke to see my reaction, and then him declaring his undying love for you while you were unconscious was just to rile me up even further right?" Cuddy continued, her voice rising with every word.

Oh God, Cuddy had misinterpreted the entire proposal scene outside her home, and Greg being the idiot he was, probably didn't explain to the now ranting woman what the real issue was. She was going to kill him, if Cuddy didn't kill her first. Maya cautiously took a step closer to Cuddy who was now standing a foot away from her sofa, looking as though she was ready to collapse onto it. When she was certain Cuddy was not going to try and physically harm her, Maya took a seat on the sofa and waited for the Dean to do the same.

"Dr Cuddy, what you saw between Greg and I outside your home that day was a joke," she said softly. "I thought Greg would have told you what had happened by now, but I see he still hasn't learnt that time is too short to keep secrets. The truth is I had asked a friend of mine to create the ring you had picked out of that catalogue all that time ago, and I thought Rachel's birthday party was the perfect opportunity for Greg to pop the question. What you witnessed was me joking around telling him what to say when he finally gained the balls to pop the question.

"He would never ask me that, if he really wanted to he would have done so a long time ago," Cuddy stated.

"No, we both know he doesn't do emotional stuff really well. And if you want him, you're going to have to take the first step, Dr Cuddy.

Cuddy was about to ask Maya something else but the sound of the younger woman's ringing phone stopped her. She waited as Maya conversed with the person on the other end, talking rapidly in English and another language Cuddy couldn't quite place. The end of the conversation was English and Cuddy overheard Maya telling whoever it was on the other end that she was ready to be picked up. So she really was going to leave without informing House about her decision. Cuddy heard a knock on her door, followed by Liam entering her office a few minutes later, carrying a huge box in his arms.

"I didn't get to give Rachel her birthday present, and I didn't want to leave without giving it to her, so I'm going to ask you to please pass it on to her," Maya motioned for Liam to hand the box over to Cuddy which she placed on the low wooden coffee table in front of her.

"Hey kid you ready to move?" Cuddy heard Liam ask Maya and she watched as the younger woman took a step toward the man standing in the doorway. She stopped and looked back, and Cuddy knew there was something else Maya wanted to say, but she was having doubts.

"Could you give us a few more minutes please?" Cuddy asked and Liam nodded his head before informing Maya he would be waiting in the car for her.

"It feels like you have something else to tell me," Cuddy prompted softly and Maya nodded.

She reached into the back pocket of her jeans, pulled out a thin platinum band and held it out in Cuddy's direction. Cuddy stared at the band and then at Maya, but reached out her palm to take it when Maya encouraged her to do so.

"Greg is afraid that you're going to reject him if he asks you, but what terrifies him more is you cutting Rachel out of his life forever if you do decide not to accept his proposal, and it is this fear that's keeping him from asking you to spend the rest of your life with him. Maybe you should ask him," Maya raised her eyebrows and smiled at Cuddy, causing Cuddy to blush brilliantly once again.

"Right, because House just loves romantic gestures," Cuddy stated sarcastically, but not unkindly.

"Catch him when he's not expecting it, kiss him senseless as you always do, drop the ring in his pocket and tell him that you're not rushing it, but he should think about it, and casually walk away. Then don't bring it up until he does, not even a whisper to Wilson or someone else about it and don't make a big deal out of it, and he'll get back to you before he even knows it," Maya suggested and Cuddy had to admit it was a good idea, insane as it was. Still it beat being a horrid romantic affair as House would refer to it.

"I should be leaving, Liam is waiting," Maya made her way to the door and Cuddy followed two steps behind. They had both reached the outer office doors when Maya turned back to tell Cuddy one last thing.

"I didn't do it for her or for Greg, Lisa," Maya said after a short silence and if Cuddy was confused before, she was more baffled now with Maya's statement but she stayed silent, hoping it would keep Maya talking. The use of her first name by the younger woman also caught Cuddy's attention. Maya had always addressed her as Rachel's mom, or as House had quoted, The She Devil and mostly Dr Cuddy, but she had never called her by her first name, and Cuddy was definitely intrigued by it.

"I did it for you." Cuddy's eyebrows furrowed and another short silence passed between them.

"No mother should have to bury her child." It was barely a whisper, but the room was so quiet they could have heard a pin drop, and the statement hit Cuddy like a ton of bricks. When she looked up at Maya she was not surprised to find that Maya would not meet her gaze and had already turned and was making her way out the clinic, the hospital and out of their lives… possibly forever.

0 o 0 o 0

It was almost five o clock when House finally burst his way to Cuddy's office, banging her doors wide open with more force than was necessary, causing Cuddy to jump in her seat. She knew this was coming, and while she had tried with all her might to brace herself for it, she knew there was nothing that could protect anyone from House when he was pissed off. Maya was correct she could have been in another country by the time House realised she was gone, seeing as she had left almost six hours ago. House slowly made his way toward the sofa in the corner of Cuddy's office and flopped untidily onto it.

"Maya's gone," he stated and Cuddy halted her pen as she waited for him to say more.

"She apparently discharged herself this morning, even though I told there were still a few more tests to run," he continued and Cuddy remained silent.

"She'd been here for almost a month, maybe she just needed a bit of change, House," Cuddy suggested after House had not said anything for a while.

"Thirteen and Kutner checked out her apartment, all her stuff was gone, the place was cleaned out, Cuddy."

"House," Cuddy started.

"She didn't even say goodbye," House whispered.

"You don't like goodbyes," Cuddy reminded him, "and besides goodbye means you're leaving without the promise of coming back. At least this way she'll have to come back to say goodbye," she said and House considered what his boss said.

House let out a long, tired breath and Cuddy couldn't help making her way to him. He lifted himself and sat up straight on the couch and propped his feet up and crossing his ankles on now the empty coffee table. Cuddy seated herself next to him, making sure not to touch him though and mirrored his actions, mentally thanking herself for deciding to wear pants that morning instead of her usual pencil skirts. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, each of them caught up in their own thoughts, and Cuddy found herself recalling her conversation with Maya about House being terrified of not having Rachel in his life

"House are you free this weekend?" the words tumbled off her tongue before her brain could filter them.

"Why you thinking of inviting me over for a quickie?" he asked lecherously, his eyebrows bobbing suggestively.

"No, I was wondering if you could watch Rachel for a few hours on Sunday, while I do some shopping" she said and he seemed to consider the idea.

"Okay," he agreed, "but on one condition, you don't get to have a say in what we can and cannot do and that includes messing up your home," he said and Cuddy found herself agreeing to his insane request. Hey if it meant her daughter was still getting to see House, she was all for it, and there was no one she trusted with Rachel more than House.

"Thank you, House." He nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Do you think she'll come back?" he asked softly and Cuddy could only shrug her shoulders. Maya hadn't said anything about returning to Princeton in the near future or even at all for that matter, but she did not have the heart to tell him. She didn't want to give him false hope.

A few weeks had passed since Maya's departure and while House was still brooding about it, he had made sure to keep his feelings about her not saying goodbye bottled up – he had a reputation to protect. He threw himself into his cases, pushed his lackeys to think harder and more out of the box, which Foreman despised, but he solved his cases faster than normally would have in the past. He also noted that Cuddy would regularly ask him to watch her spawn. At first it was for a few hours every second weekend and then every weekend and one Saturday morning he had woken up to the pounding of fists on his door and the sight of Cuddy and Rachel dressed and ready to spend the day in his company. If she willingly wanted to spend time with him, there was no way he was going to complain.

At first Cuddy had just dropped Rachel off to spend the day with him, but as time passed she would spend an hour or two with them before disappearing off to do her own thing. Before long, however, Cuddy had been spending the entire day with them, often including herself in their activities and games and Rachel had been over the moon. By the eleventh month they were spending their entire weekends together, except for the nights when House insisted he needed to sleep in his won apartment, or Cuddy informed him that neither she nor her daughter would be spending their nights on his lumpy sofa.

They were lounging around in Cuddy's living room one evening, after a long day of grocery shopping when a bored Rachel had decided she wanted to watch Monsters VS Aliens for the umpteenth time. Cuddy was about to shake her head to indicate that she was not interested in the movie but House had already slotted in the disc into the player and the television screen was alight with Rachel's favourite characters of all time. Cuddy could not for the life of her understand why Rachel loved this particular movie so much, and now that her room held at least four life sized furry, stuffed characters from the movie, courtesy of Maya, she doubted her daughter was going to tire of it anytime soon. The movie started and House and Rachel were soon caught up in the plot and Cuddy wondered they could still laugh at the same jokes they knew were coming.

An hour and three quarters later the movie had finished and Rachel was bored once again. House tried convincing her to re-watch the movie but Cuddy was having none of it.

"Fine, if you don't let me watch it again, you will have to make cup cakes for me, with frosting" Rachel demanded, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at her mother in much the same way Cuddy glared at House.

House on his part stifled the grin that made its way to his mouth and turned his face away from both Cuddy and Rachel to avoid laughing and making Rachel feel as though she was not to be taken seriously.

"Rachel sweetie," Cuddy started but the determined look on her daughter's face alerted Cuddy that there was a tantrum on its way and so ten minutes later; Rachel was perched on the kitchen counter adding flour to the sweet batter mixture her mother was currently mixing with an electric beater. House watched as Rachel messily helped her mother fill the paper cups with the now ready mixture and observed as Cuddy placed the two trays into the oven to bake.

When the bell of the oven signalled that the cup cakes were done House was the first to make his way back to the kitchen. Cuddy was ready with the frosting, the bowl standing on the kitchen counter. Rachel spooned a generous helping of the mixture onto her cup cake and licked it to check if it was sweet enough. Satisfied with it, she hopped off with her plate and made her way back to the lounge, leaving House and Cuddy standing in Cuddy's kitchen.

"If only the entire cup cake could be made of frosting," House mused loud enough for Cuddy to hear and she shook her head at his child like thoughts. Only House could think of something like that.

"You would die by the time you were a teenager," Cuddy replied as she decorated the cup cakes and House smiled.

House reached up, grabbed an unfrosted cup cake from the tray, took a bite from it and scrunched up his face in mock disgust. Cuddy merely grinned at his expression, and shook her head once again.

"I don't know why 'The Smurf' bothers to eat the sponge part, if I were her I'd simply lick the frosting off and take another one," House informed Cuddy, his eyes shining with mischief. The look on Cuddy's face was enough to stop him from continuing with his train of thought.

"Then again, I suppose if I had the Devil herself for a mom, I'd eat the whole thing too," House quipped, causing Cuddy to glare at him this time.

House noted as she placed the last frosted cup cake in the container and set the dish onto the counter. There was still a bit of frosting in it and he reached over to snatch the dish, but Cuddy was too fast for him, and grabbed it before his long, artistic fingers could grasp the rim of the steel dish.

"Oh come on 'Child of Satan' don't be like that," House pouted at Cuddy.

"If you want it come and get it," she told him as she made her way to the basin with the dirty dishes and utensils she had been using.

"Cuddy, you don't know what you're asking for," House warned her as he placed his half eaten cup cake on the island and stood up to make his way to her.

"I'm not scared of you, House," she teased and House quickened his steps toward her.

When he was within arms reach of her, he extended his hand to take the frosting filled dish from her, but she moved it out of his way, causing him to step closer into her personal space. He tried once more, but Cuddy repeated her action and before either of them realised it, House had her pinned between him and the counter, his chest pressed to hers.

"I told you, you didn't know what you were asking for," his voice came out as a whisper and it sent shivers up Cuddy's spine.

He watched as her breathing became erratic and her pupils dilated and he couldn't help the feeling of excitement that washed over him. House lowered his head slightly and Cuddy's eyes closed automatically, waiting for him to kiss her but he kept her waiting. What she did not realise though was that in her moment of passion, her hand that was still holding the frosting filled dish had dropped to her side and was well within House's grasp. He grabbed the dish from her and walked back toward his cup cake that was now lopsidedly resting in its paper cup.

Cuddy didn't know whether she was angrier at not seeing what he was up to or disappointed that he had not kissed her. She watched as he scooped up some of the blue coloured frosting with his finger and liberally spread it onto his entire cup cake, before he shoved the entire thing in his mouth and turned to smirk at her.

"I think that's enough sugar for you tonight, House," she said in her best administrative voice and walked up to him ready to reclaim her frosting from him.

Cuddy was once again caught off guard when House's long, artistic fingers wrapped around her tiny wrist and he pulled her to him, this time her chest pressed up against his.

"I don't think so," he smeared some of the left over frosting on the corner of her red painted mouth and Cuddy glared at him.

Her anger dissipated somewhat, though, when she felt his lips on the corner of her mouth, as he lightly licked the frosting off her face.

"House," she started again and this time he swiped his thumb over her lips and Cuddy had to fight the urge to lick the sweet topping off her lips

"Rachel," she whispered, not wanting her daughter to walk in on something she would not understand at her age, but Cuddy need not have worried as the sound of the Ducktales theme song floated through the house. Rachel had put in another DVD and she was going to be occupied for at least an hour.

"Is watching TV," House replied and gently sucked the icing off her lips before kissing her softly but passionately. It was all Cuddy needed to hear and she deepened the kiss. His hands roamed her body as hers found purchase on his chest and the back of his neck, making sure he couldn't disengage his mouth from hers. Suddenly a voice sounded in her head and Cuddy had to try and concentrate on what it was telling her.

"Maybe you should ask him, catch him off guard, drop the ring in his pocket, let him know you're in it for the long run, just don't pressurise him, and casually walk away." Cuddy remembered the conversation as clearly as though it had happened yesterday and she decided Maya was right and this was the perfect time.

She unwillingly tore her mouth from his and tried to get her breathing back under control. She then linked her fingers with his and led him to her bedroom where he seated himself on her bed, not exactly sure what she was up to. When she was finally done rummaging in her drawer she made her way back to him and once again melded her lips to his, initiating the most erotic kiss House had ever experienced – ever. When they finally pulled apart due to the lack of oxygen, Cuddy braced herself for what she was about to do. Maya had been right about House before, and she decided to trust Maya's judgement about House's reaction to this.

Cuddy righted herself on the bed and waited for House to get comfortable before she began to speak.

"I don't want to scare you, but we've been together for a while now." House listened intently not sure where this was going.

"I know the thought of actually having a long term relationship absolutely terrifies you, and I just wanted to give you the heads up that I am in it for the long run, if you are," she continued.

"So I want you to hold on to this if and until you're ready," she held out her hand and deposited the band onto his open palm. House looked up at her, his expression utterly confused, but Cuddy merely pulled him into another passion filled kiss.

"We don't have to do it if you don't want to," she assured him, but House had already made up his mind, all he needed to was to tell her his decision.

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Wow an entire nine thousand and something words in one chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Leave a review to tell me how much pretty please?

I have to let you guys know when I started this chapter I had every intention of killing Maya but my muse just wouldn't allow it, and therefore this has created a path for another chapter.

By a show of reviews LOL please let me know if you guys do want another chapter.

And if you haven't checked out D CSI's fic Games you should do that too.

Have a great weekend

Psych and D CSI


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**A/N:** Sorry for the late update I was actually out of town for the last month and a half, so you can blame it on that. Hope you guys like this update as much as I enjoyed writing it. Also I decided to bring back one of the characters simply because I thought it would make it more interesting. Enjoy reading. Fixed a few errors that were bugging me a bit, though it had no been beta-ed so any other mistakes still belong to me...

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Chapter 16

It was a late Sunday afternoon and the park was full of families enjoying the warm early spring days, most of the younger kids were playing in the sandboxes under the watchful eyes of their over-protective parents, while the older kids attempted the monkey bars and the jungle gym that offered an extremely good workout for them. The usual group of doctors were seated at one of the wooden tables in the park, all of them enjoying one of the very few days off that they had. While before they would never have thought of each other as more than colleagues, at this point in time they considered themselves a family; a very dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless. Dr Gregory House was caught up in teasing Wilson about his chest hair, or rather the lack thereof, while Chase tried to keep his giggles in, so as to not encourage House more but the expression on the blonde man's face was enough of a spur and House therefore continued to harass his best friend.

Amber and Cameron were discussing something female related, as Cameron kept a watchful eye on Sarah, her two year old daughter, who was playing with her building blocks in one corner of the sandpit. Cuddy was standing a few feet away from the group taking to someone on the phone though she kept her attention on Rachel who was playing on the monkey bars with a few of her friends. Cuddy couldn't help the smile that made its way to her face whenever she looked at her daughter. After ending the call, she made her way back to the group and settled down on the bench between House and Chase, House's hand finding and linking with hers under the wooden table. Cuddy looked up at him and he smiled naughtily at her in return. She still could not believe they were keeping their relationship or sort-of relationship a secret from their friends.

House's attention was diverted a few minutes later though, when they heard a shriek coming from the play area. He turned his head only to see Rachel sitting in the sand, her knee grazed and blood oozing out the wound. Before Cuddy could even try to convince him it was nothing more than a scratch, and that Rachel was bound to get hurt at some point or the other, seeing as she was playing on the monkey bars, House was on his feet, limping as fast as he could in Rachel's direction, his cane still resting on the side of the wooden table. When he finally reached her he sat himself down on the sand beside her and pulled her to him so that she was leaning on his side.

"You okay, Squirt?" he asked her softly, and she nodded, her delicate brown curls bouncing around her head as she did so.

He pulled out a handkerchief from his jeans pocket and wiped some of the blood off her knee. Rachel hissed in pain, and he knew the action had stung, but he needed to see how bad it was and whether she would need stiches or not. Wilson reached them a few minutes later, the emergency medical kit already opened in his hand as he too settled down next to them. He pulled out some cotton swabs and sprayed it with some antibacterial spray and was about to clean the little girl's knee when House pulled the swab from him and did it himself. House watched as Rachel's face contorted in pain and he felt helpless to do anything, but he had to clean her wound and he knew it would sting, but there was no gentler way he could do it. After he had cleaned and sterilized the bruise, he made sure it was still not bleeding and put a Donald Duck printed Band Aid on her knee.

"There you go, good as new," he smiled at her and ruffled her hair and Rachel beamed back at him before she stood up and hugged his as tight as she possibly could.

"Thank you, Daddy," she whispered and both of them smiled at the private joke they shared.

Wilson looked on amazedly at the pair in front of him before he gathered the contents of the first aid kit and put them back into the bag. He helped House stand and they both made their way back to the rest of the group, neither of them saying anything as they were lost in their own thoughts. House reclaimed his seat next to Cuddy and once again linked his hand with hers, keeping them well out of sight of the others though, and Cuddy squeezed gently to reassure him that Rachel was indeed fine.

"This is not the last time she's going to get hurt, you know?" she asked him softly, her gaze fixed on Sarah who was toothily grinning at Cameron.

"I know," House admitted just as softly.

"You're also not always going to be there when that happens," Cuddy continued gently and House nodded his head. He was perfectly aware that he would not always be available to soothe her every hurt, or wipe away every precious tear that fell from her eyes and so he wanted to be there for her now, when he could, he didn't want to see her in any kind of pain, not if he could help it.

"I didn't take you as a kid friendly guy, Greg," House reluctantly tore his gaze from Rachel's form and looked up at the source of the voice. There were only three people who referred to him as Greg, one was his mother who was very far away – actually in another state altogether at this moment, the other was Maya, who he had no freaking clue as to her whereabouts, which left the last person he wanted to see ever – and that was one Stacy Warner in particular.

Still keeping Cuddy's small hand firmly grasped in his larger one, House gave the dark haired woman a thorough once over. She hadn't changed much since the last time he saw her, there were deeper lines around her mouth and eyes and she had gained a bit of weight but nothing else had changed. He noted Mark standing a few feet behind his wife, and House could not help the thousand watt smile that made its way to his lips when he saw the other man looking around nervously. The memory of Maya pinning Mark to the wall and threatening him made its way, unbidden, to House's mind and he felt a pang in his chest at the thought of her not being around to see Mark's reaction to House.

"Stacy, what are you doing here?" It was Wilson who finally asked the question; House simply sat there staring at the woman standing before him.

"Mark needed a break from work, and we thought a change of scenery would do him good," she replied, her eyes not meeting his.

"And out of a hundred choices to choose from, Princeton was the only place you could think of coming to?" Cameron asked under her breath, thankfully not loud enough for Stacy to hear and causing Chase to gently elbow his wife in her side.

"Lisa," Stacy greeted Cuddy politely, and then proceeded to greet the rest of the group minus Amber who in turn was only too happy to be left out of the conversation. There was something off about the woman, though the blonde Radiologist could not put her finger on it.

"Whose kid was that?" she asked, her eyes glittering with curiosity.

"I don't think parents would like strangers comforting their kids when they got hurt, do you?" the words rolled off Cameron's tongue before she could stop them and House smirked at her reply. The statement definitely caught Stacy by surprise, and she turned to look at Wilson, silently asking him if the little girl was in fact House's kid, but Wilson remained silent. This was definitely not the time to be discussing who Rachel's father was – it was none of Stacy's business anyway.

"We should have dinner some time," Stacy suggested after a short tense silence, "Spend a little time catching up, just like old times," she continued when none of them said anything.

Stacy was about to suggest a date and a place, when she saw the little girl make her way back to where Cuddy was seated. She watched as the girl thought for a moment before moving away from Cuddy and came to a stop in front of House, and a few minutes later climbed onto his left thigh, and House snaked his arm around her waist to keep her balanced. Rachel placed her head on House's shoulder and wound one arm around his neck while the other played with the collar of his T-shirt.

"I'm ready to go home now, Daddy," she announced loud enough for the rest of them to hear and House felt Cuddy's grip on his hand tighten, and he offered her a reassuring look in reply.

If his friends were surprised by the title Rachel used to address House, none of them showed it and for that he was grateful, though he would not have admitted it to them. Stacy's expression, on the other hand, displayed just how shocked she was. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and her mouth agape in awe. This kid looked like she was almost ten years old, and the last time she was here, there was absolutely no talk of House being in a serious, long term relationship, let alone having a kid. There was absolutely no way this little girl was his child, besides she looked nothing like him.

"I think that's a great idea, Squirt," he replied and beamed at her once again.

"Come on Rachel," Cameron had gathered up Sarah and was holding her hand out in Rachel's direction, hoping she would take the lead, "the girls can leave first and daddy and Uncle Wilson will follow us in a few minutes," Cameron told Rachel, emphasising the word daddy as she spoke. Rachel seemed to consider the idea for a moment, but then decided she wanted to go home with House and it seemed nothing was going to change her mind.

"Rachel," this time it was Cuddy's voice and Rachel heard her mother's tone, indicating this was not a time for debate or anything of that sort. She quickly slipped her hand in her mother's and allowed herself to be led away from House and toward the car park. Stacy looked on, her mind running at a hundred miles a minute. Surely Cuddy was not the kid's mother, she would have known if House and Cuddy were in a relationship, yes they were best friends for the last two decades, and Stacy doubted that Cuddy was dumb enough to actually get into a relationship with House. She was itching to ask about the child's mother, but the lawyer held her tongue, there would be another time to enquire.

After they had strapped Sarah in her car seat and Rachel had settled down next to her, Cuddy started the short journey home. The drive was a silent one with each of the women lost in their own thoughts about how the presence of one Stacy Warner was going to affect House and everyone around him. It was not that they loathed her; it was just that every time she showed up in Princeton, she would hurt House in the worst possible way and then leave without as much as an apology; leaving the rest of them to pick up the pieces of his shattered heart and deal with his erratic and often very harsh mood swings as a result.

"What are you going to tell her if she asks?" Cameron broke the silence and jerked her head in Rachel's direction as the little girl quietly retreated to her bedroom.

"I don't know," Cuddy replied; she had to admit Cameron had asked a valid question. Just what was she going to tell Rachel, that Stacy was House's ex girlfriend, the love of his life, the woman who Cuddy always lost to when it came to House choosing? No maybe she could leave out the specifics and if need be then they would both tell her who Stacy was, until then it didn't matter.

"Whoever that woman was, I have a feeling she's trouble," Amber stated as she took a seat on the couch in Cuddy's living room.

"That's an understatement," Cameron agreed with Amber and Cuddy remained silent. She had no idea how she was going to deal with Stacy's unexpected appearance in Princeton and she did not like the feeling of that at all.

House, Wilson and Chase returned an hour later, and just from the expression on his face, Cuddy knew House was in a foul mood. He seated himself on the three seater and spread out his leg in front of him as he massaged his right thigh.

"Stacy wants to have dinner with us on Friday night," Wilson informed the women and Cuddy's head shot up from the cutting board where she was cutting fruits for Sarah who was seated comfortably on the island separating the front room from the kitchen.

"I told her we'd schedule a time when we could all make it and I would let her know," he continued when no one said anything. Cameron simply shook her head indicating that she was not pleased and Cuddy watched as House's jaw tightened with every word that Wilson spoke. It was clearly going to be a long night for House.

"Did she tell you what she wanted?" Cameron asked after a few minutes of tense silence, "or is this dinner supposed to be where she makes her demands?"

Wilson shrugged his shoulders, he had no idea what exactly the Southern lawyer wanted, and as far as he was concerned she had no ulterior motive. All she had asked for was to spend time with old friends and he really didn't see the harm in that; seeing as she was happily married to Mark and well she hadn't mentioned anything about Gregory House in particular. Then again Wilson always liked to believe that no one had bad intentions or ulterior motives, unless that person was Greg House and it involved annoying Cuddy on some level.

"What if you're all making this more that what it really is?" he asked after a while, but decided not to push it when he saw Cameron's withering glance and the defeated slump of his boss's shoulders.

The sound of Wilson's voice alerted Rachel that Uncle Greg was back and she raced from her bedroom and directly into his lap as he relaxed on the couch. House, on his part, pulled the little girl closer to him as though he was going to hug her, and whispered something in her ear. Rachel looked up at him and then turned to look at her mother, who was handing Sarah small pieces of watermelon to eat, then back at House and nodded her head as she began giggling at their private joke. Cuddy simply shook her head at House and Rachel, knowing her daughter's giggling was not going to end anytime soon because House would just find something else to amuse her little mind with.

"Ok I think that's enough, and its time to go home, " Cameron told her blonde haired, green eyed daughter as she lifted Sarah from her baby carrier and made her way to the bathroom to wash her face and rinse her sticky fingers. By the time she returned a few minutes later Chase had already gathered up all Sarah's belongings and shoved them into her knapsack, ready to call it a day and Wilson and Amber left a few minutes after Chase and Cameron.

"Come on Sweetheart," Cuddy held out her hand in Rachel's direction, "it's late and you have to get up early for school tomorrow," she informed her daughter. Rachel reluctantly slid her tiny hand in her mother's larger one and House watched as both Cuddy women made their way to Rachel's room. He left for his own apartment ten minutes later, unsure of what Stacy's unexpected arrival in Princeton would bring.

= x = x = x =

Friday afternoon alerted the oncologist that a week had passed without any sign of Stacy and Wilson was hoping it would stay like that, but he also knew that Stacy would not just leave without trying to talk to House first. Still, he was glad that House and Cuddy had gotten at least a week to brace themselves for the storm that was fast approaching. He had the feeling that this was the calm before the storm… he had no idea that the next few weeks would either make or break House and further complicate his relationships with his 'friends'.

House's team had caught a case on Wednesday afternoon and they still weren't sure what disease or infection was killing their patient. House was so involved in trying to solve the mystery that he had not even spared a thought in Stacy's direction until Foreman, who couldn't keep his nose out of House's business, asked the diagnostician. House grunted an indecipherable answer and continued to jot down differentials on the white board in front of him and letting Taub and Kutner know when an idea seemed ridiculous.

Cuddy was seated in her leather chair, behind her desk, furiously filling in documents that needed to be sent to the accounting department so that she knew how much money the hospital still needed to expand the ever radiology department. While she was disturbed at Stacy's return, The Hospital Administrator found that there simply was not enough time in the day to think about what Stacy was up to, and she decided that she would cross the bridge when she got there. Stacy was not a part of her life, and there was no reason to let her sudden arrival turn Cuddy's life upside down. There was no point in stressing herself out for someone that really didn't matter to her anyway. The Dean was disturbed from her paperwork a few minutes later, by Cameron who had what Cuddy called her 'House' face on.

"What did House do now?" she asked vexedly, but frowned when Cameron looked at her in confusion.

"Actually, for once in his life, it's not House," Cameron informed her, "there's a couple in the clinic who is demanding to be seen by you and you alone. I told them that I would help them as soon as I was done with my current patients, but they flatly refused. They want to see you, and they're prepared to wait until you're done," Cameron continued when Cuddy didn't say anything. Cuddy was about to refuse but the Cameron' nest words made the older woman change her mind.

"The ER is swamped and I really could use a hand, Dr Cuddy," Cameron asked politely and Cuddy found she simply could not refuse. The paperwork could wait another few hours she thought and followed Cameron out the double doors of her office.

Cuddy looked past the nurse and into the clinic but didn't see anyone standing at the nurses' station. She slowly stood up from her seat and made her way over to the coat rack to retrieve her white lab coat. She punched in her arms through the sleeves and adjusted her collar as she began taking measured steps towards the clinic, her gaze roaming the area, and once again not finding what she was looking for. She had never before had a patient asking specifically for her, donors yes, juvenile boys who thought she was hot – definitely, but never real patients, and this intrigued her. Well it was not as though she treated a lot of them, she justified in her head.

"Dr Cuddy, there's a couple in the ER bed 2 claiming that they can only be treated by you," an intern informed Cuddy as she came to a stop at the nurse's station.

"Where's the patient file?" Cuddy asked as she stretched out her hand, waiting for the tan folder to be handed to her.

The intern looked up guiltily at his boss, "the woman said you would understand," he repeated what the patient had probably told him earlier.

Cuddy heaved in a deep breath and made her way to Bed 2, she waited a while before she decided to push the curtain wide enough to let her in, but narrow enough not to allow anyone else to get a glimpse as to who was on the examination table. The small table in front of her was neatly set out with medical instruments. She noted the alcohol swabs, a few balls of cotton, antiseptic liquid and the sterile water in needed to be diluted with, a 19 gauge Jelco needle and another needle already threaded with cotton to stitch up a wound. Whoever was in here certainly knew what they were doing, and Cuddy had to wonder why she had been called.

The sound of a male voice penetrated her thoughts and Cuddy looked up to see a tall, green eyed, spiky haired, chisel chinned man arguing with a woman who was standing behind the partition board. Cuddy cleared her throat and the man turned to face her. She did not miss the way his breath caught in his throat, and his speech suddenly stopped at the sight of her. If Cuddy was taken surprised at his reaction, she made no show of it, and instead raised a questioning eyebrow in his direction, and it took him a few minutes to get his bearings and thoughts back on track.

"Agent Cahill said I shouldn't let you out of my sight, not even for a millisecond, or he will kill me, slowly and very torturously and I quite like being alive thank you very much," Cuddy could hear the fear in his voice.

"Liam is just overprotective for nothing, it's not like I died or something" the woman said with a hint of humour in her tone. Cuddy thought the voice sounded familiar, but she could not be sure if it was the right person since the woman's back was facing her.

"No, all you did was try to avoid an oncoming car and instead got yourself dragged at least eight feet on the tar under the heavy weight of that death trap that you so lovingly refer to as your bike," the young man continued, his voice rising with every word.

"Okay Michael, first of all it's nothing major just a few scratches and abrasions, and secondly my bike is not a death trap – it happens to be my first love for your information," she informed him coolly.

"Yeah you can smile about it, because the boss is not going to ask you what happened, he's going to simply skin me alive when he sees these scratches on you."

"Oh for Pete's sake Michael," the woman sighed, "I will talk to Agent Cahill and I will make sure you come to no harm. Is that okay with you?"

Cuddy made her presence known in the short silence that presided as Michael pondered on the woman's words. Michael turned to look at her and was rendered speechless, not for the first time that day.

"Oh seriously Mike, stop panting, roll your tongue back into your mouth and lift your jaw from the floor before you pick up some disease that they wont actually know how to cure," Cuddy heard the female voice and she had to smile at the statement.

"Can I help you with something?" Cuddy asked Mike, who still stood there staring at her.

It took him a few seconds to process that she was in fact talking to him and waited as his brain began to function again, "uh, we're actually waiting for Dr Cuddy, if you could tell us when he'd be able to see us that would be great," he informed her and Cuddy simply smiled at the man.

"In that case, I'll inform Dr Cuddy to come in as soon as he's free," Cuddy made her way to the door and turned the handle.

"If you two are done, and if you could stop giving Michael the impression that The Dean of Medicine at PPTH is an old balding fart, I would like to get treated by you, please," Cuddy heard the woman say and she turned around in the direction of the voice.

To say that she was surprised was the understatement of the damn year. Dressed in a pair or perfectly fitted stonewashed bootlegged jeans, and a black T-shirt with a bright orange script that read 'If you're not living on the edge… You're taking up too much space accompanied by a picture of the Grim Reaper. Her sneaker clad feet were swinging back and forth as she sat on the exam table watching Cuddy watch her. A slow grin spread across her face, as she watched Cuddy blink furiously, as though to make sure she was real and not a part of her imagination.

"Maya?" Cuddy whispered; her voice filled with disbelief.

"The last time I checked, yeah I was still Maya," the younger woman grinned and Cuddy found she could not suppress the smile that made its way to her lips.

"Do you two know each other?" Mike asked and Maya turned her focus from Cuddy to the brown haired man.

"Yeah, we were lovers a few years ago," she informed him, her tone serious and her face not betraying the fact that she wanted burst out laughing. He was about to ask the doctor if what Maya was saying was true, but the brilliant blush that was present on the older woman's face was just as much a confession as her saying it out loud.

"Now that your male fantasies have been filled, Mike, I'd like Dr Cuddy to actually clean and stitch my wounds up," Maya announced and she pulled up the sleeve of her T-shirt to reveal tear in her flesh from her shoulder to half way down her upper arm, just above the elbow.

Cuddy heaved in a deep breath and eyed the younger woman, the question already in her eyes. She asked Mike to step out of the room while she worked, using sterile conditions as an excuse, and Mike had no option but to step out. She pulled the tray to her and took a seat on a stool at the end of the exam table where Maya had taken her seat. The room was silent for a total of three minutes before the words tumbled out of the older woman's mouth.

"You didn't mention coming back to Princeton in any of your emails," she stated and Maya shrugged her shoulders in reply.

"I was not supposed to, but circumstances changed and I had to be transferred here."

"Does anyone else know you're here, besides Michael and Liam?" Cuddy asked.

"If you're asking whether Greg knows, I have no clue, and I'm not quite ready to let him know just yet anyway. I think he's still angry that I left without letting him know. I'm not sure Dr Cameron won't go running straight to daddy after this, though I am grateful that she came to you first" Maya said and Cuddy nodded her head in agreement. While House had not even mentioned Maya's name in the last year and a half, Cuddy knew he still thought about her, and he was still upset about her going away without informing him.

"How is the stud anyway?" Maya asked.

"Still the same as when you left."

"And the squirt?" Cuddy smiled at the reference to her daughter. It was one of the very few names Rachel allowed her mother or House to call her. No one else was allowed to address her by that name.

"Growing up way too fast; she has a mind of her own, and for some reason she is more attached to House than anyone else," Cuddy said proudly.

Maya noticed the doctor was already three quarter of the way done with the stitching and she hadn't felt anything. Well the theory that Greg had given her about Cuddy not being a real doctor went to hell, when she experienced just how delicately the older woman had treated and stitched her wound for her. She was sure there was no other doctor who was as gentle and caring as Cuddy was, even Cameron had nothing on Cuddy when it came to patient care.

"How are you doing?" Maya asked after a few minutes of silence had passed between the two women.

"Fine," Cuddy replied, but Maya saw the flash in the other woman's silver grey orbs and she felt the tension in her hands as Cuddy cleaned and stitched the wounds on her arms.

Cuddy was almost done cleaning the last abrasion on Maya's thigh when the blue curtain that shielded the pair from the rest of the ER was violently pulled open. The doctor's head jerked up and Maya saw the anger flashing in her blue grey slits at the invasion of their privacy. Maya watched as Cameron slowly made her way toward them, keeping a safe distance away from the woman who had vehemently pulled the curtain open. Cuddy's grip on Maya's thigh involuntarily tightened and she had to stifle the gasp of pain that wanted to escape her lips at the action.

"Stacy," Maya listened as Cuddy acknowledged the brown haired woman. The name sounded oddly familiar to her for some insane reason.

"Lisa," Stacy greeted in response, her attention focused solely on the blue eyed woman.

"I know this is really bad timing on my part, but I have to know, and the only person I can think of asking is you," Stacy continued, her words tumbling out of her mouth and her hands twisting nervously.

Before Cuddy could reply Stacy had started talking again, "I mean you two have been friends for a long time, and I think you would be the only person he would share this with."

Cuddy raised a questioning eyebrow in Stacy's direction and she took it her cue to ask the question, "Is Greg in a relationship with someone?"

The question caught Cuddy completely off guard and she found that while she wanted to tell Stacy that she was actually seeing House, something held her back. Maya sensed Cuddy's discomfort and even though his surname was not mentioned, she was absolutely positive that the man they were talking about was Gregory House. She had to do something to get Cuddy out of this sticky situation.

"Hey!" Cuddy was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Maya's voice and the impatient click of her fingers. The shout caught Stacy's attention too and she looked at the patient seated on the bed, acknowledging her for the first time since she had arrived.

"As you can see we're both in some sort of trouble right now, only mine seems to be a bit more pressing than yours, seeing as yours is not as life threatening as mine, even though you might think your world is going to come to an end," Maya stated over dramatically and waving her hand in the air making it seem as though she really was about to die.

Stacy was left speechless for a moment, until Cameron came up to them and asked her to leave the ER and wait in the clinic until Cuddy was done treating her patient. She ushered her out, not too gently and assured her that Cuddy would be with her as soon as she could.

"That was… interesting," Maya said when she was sure Stacy was out of earshot, "and judging from the reaction you had to her, she really rubs you the wrong way," Maya continued when Cuddy didn't say anything.

The sound of the small table being pushed away from the bed alerted Maya that Cuddy was done cleaning and treating her, and she jumped off the bed with practiced grace and ease. Cuddy had no idea how Maya was not in pain from her injuries, maybe she was telling Michael the truth when she said it looked worse than it really was. Maybe it was just that Maya refused to be held down by anything. The uneasy look that remained on Cuddy's face even after Cameron had guided the woman away alerted Maya that this woman was going to cause more trouble than she was worth, for Cuddy and House.

Maya pulled out a stack of hundred dollar bills from her bag and handed them over to Cuddy with a smile, though the doctor looked on confusedly at her. Maya was about to hand over more money than was necessary and Cuddy was not sure she could accept it.

"This is for treating me tonight and if there is anything left over, you can put it down as an anonymous donation toward the paediatric department," Maya informed her warmly and placed the money in Cuddy's small hand. "Oh, and if you need help with that woman, let me know, I'd love a challenge," Maya winked at Cuddy and then turned to make her exit. Cuddy watched the young woman, too surprised to even form a reply in her mind as Maya's form disappeared through the front doors of the hospital.

The Dean made her way back to her office, her mind running at a hundred miles a minute. She knew she had to tell House that Maya was back in Princeton before he found out from someone else. She knew he was going to find out sooner or later, but she hoped that either she or Maya were the ones to actually tell him. She made a mental note to tell Cameron not to alert House just yet about Maya's arrival, she needed a bit more time to settle in before she would tell everyone. She took her seat behind her desk and was about to start on her paperwork once again, when she was reminded of the money Maya had given her earlier.

Cuddy retrieved the notes from her jacket pocket and proceeded to count them. They were all one hundred dollar bills, crisp, clean and definitely new, as though they had just been withdrawn from the bank. Cuddy gasped in shock when she added the last hundred dollar note to the already high pile of bills. She had five thousand dollars in her possession, of which only two hundred would be billed to Maya. The other four thousand eight hundred dollars were extra. What the hell was Maya doing with so much cash on her? Cuddy thought to herself, but she was interrupted a few seconds later when her assistant alerted her that Stacy was still waiting to talk to her. She hastily put the money away and readied herself for the long afternoon she knew was going to come…

= x = x = x =

It was a lazy Friday afternoon and House was growing bored. He had not had a patient in almost a week and he was growing tired of sitting and doing nothing all day for days on end. Even the research he was doing on helping neo natal babies with life threatening diseases was becoming boring and House found he needed to do other stuff to keep his mind running and alert, but there was nothing he could think of at that moment. He had played every prank he could think of on Wilson that week, and he didn't dare start with Cuddy lest she gave him clinic duty to do but more so because he did not want to get into a conversation about why Stacy was back in town. He and Cuddy were in a good place and he did not want anything to ruin what it had taken over twenty years to achieve.

His minions watched as he slowly stood up from his seat behind his desk and made his way out of the office and down the corridor to the elevator at the end of the hallway.

"God, I wish she leaves as quickly as she came," Forman muttered as he watched his boss's retreating back and causing the rest of the team to look confusedly at him.

"She's been here before, and who exactly is the she we're talking about?" Kutner asked.

"Stacy Warner, House's ex-girlfriend and the love of his life, or so she claims," Foreman informed them and Thirteen snorted.

"Sorry, it's just hard to imagine House in love with a woman like that," Thirteen admitted, thinking of her meeting with the woman.

She had been introduced to Stacy a few days before, thanks to Wilson and she had to admit there was something about that woman that made the green eyed doctor uneasy, though she could not put a finger on it. Thirteen was brought out of her thoughts when her pager started beeping alerting her that she had to report to the ER as soon as possible. Grabbing her white coat from the rack, she punched her arms into the arm holes and straightened it as she strode down the hallway, following in her boss's footsteps.

She was roughly pulled aside as soon as she entered the ER, with a hand clamping over her mouth so she could not scream or alert anyone that she was there.

"If you scream, I will kill you," his voice was rough yet gentle enough not to scare her, though it was a bit late for that now. He could feel her heart thumping wildly as she leaned against him for a few minutes, trying to get her breathing under control.

"House," Thirteen admonished, her eyes flicking with anger, "you scared the crap out of me. What the hell did you do that for?" she asked once her breathing began to ease and she was absolutely sure she was not in any danger.

"Can you hear that voice, it sounds very familiar," he asked her and Thirteen looked at him as though he had grown another head.

"House, this is an ER, there are more voices than I care to know," she gave him an exasperated sigh. She was about to dismiss what he said and walk away when she heard it, and damn it did sound awfully familiar.

"As you can see we're both in some sort of trouble right now, only mine seems to be a bit more pressing than yours, seeing as yours is not as life threatening as mine, even though you might think your world is going to come to an end." It was said with a little attitude and Thirteen could only imagine the look on the woman's face as she said what she had to.

"Maya," she confirmed House's suspicion only to find that he had already disappeared from her side and the ER actually. Oh this was going to get really interesting, real quick and Thirteen was not sure she really wanted to be a part of it.

House seated himself on the bench just outside the hospital entrance and watched as doctors, patients, and families of patients alike bustled through the double doors of the huge building, but he kept his mind focused on one person only, and he was going to make sure he did not miss her when she exited the hospital. He found that he did not have to wait long as he saw her walking out the double doors, talking to the man walking next to her. A small bubble of jealousy shot up his chest and House had to calm himself down before he made his way to her.

"Didn't think you'd get lucky the second time around, did you?" House said as he fell into step behind her.

"No, not really, seeing as I saw you sitting on the wooden bench watching me as I walked away, and wondering if you would let me walk on without a word or if you would stop me," she answered and House had to smile. He had forgotten how super observant she was and how easily she could read him, or anyone else for that matter. An uneasy silence followed and House found himself at a loss for words. He was usually so full of sarcastic, witty or humorous remarks but none of them reached his tongue and he stood looking at her, wordlessly. He still could not believe that she was actually there. He needed to touch her, to make sure she was not a figment of his over active imagination.

Maya could see the confusion in his gaze and she knew he would not tell her about it, but she knew him well enough to know that he wanted a few minutes alone with her. There was nothing to consider, so she turned to face Michael and told him to carry on without her, and that she would be back as soon as she was done catching up with old friends. When Michael protested her actions, once again reminding her that Liam was going to skin him alive for leaving her unaccompanied, Maya simply told him to inform Liam that she was with House and that Liam would understand. She didn't wait for another protest or argument from Michael; she simply twinned her hands with House's and led him to her car parked a few feet away, leaving Michael to watch as she walked away with some stranger.

She unlocked the car doors with the click of a button and House slid into the passenger seat of the Audi R8, breathing in the familiar scent that was uniquely Maya. He watched as Maya mimicked his actions and slid into the comfortable leather driver's seat and started up the engine. She waited for a few minutes for the car to warm up, before she put it into gear and gunned out of the parking lot at rapid speed. Neither of them said a word as Maya drove, each of them caught up in their own thoughts. House felt the car slowing down and he looked out the window, only to see the restaurant he and Maya had come to the first time she had met Cuddy. His lip turned up in an unexpected smile and his heart skipped a beat when he saw her return his smile.

The waiter showed them to a booth in a secluded part of the restaurant, where they could talk in private and not over the yelling voices of other patrons.

"I didn't plan on leaving the way I did," Maya admitted once they were both settled.

"Would have been nice to know that at the time," he retorted, his hurt getting the best of him, and Maya knew she deserved that one. "I waited for you to return for weeks, waited with bated breath, hoping that you would at least tell me why you decided to leave…me" he continued, keeping his gaze on the table separating them. One day I decided that enough was enough, and I stopped waiting."

"I'm sorry," she apologised even though she knew it was of no use.

She looked up at him, and was surprised to see his gaze focused intently on her, and she knew she had to do something to assure him that she really didn't intend to hurt him, and that whether he believed her or not, she was not out to hurt him. She moved towards him from her seat and in a matter of seconds closed the gap between their bodies, her arms banding around his back, pulling him into a tight bear hug. House felt his arms curl instinctively curl around her smaller body and he squeezed her gently. God he had missed this woman, three long years had been torture enough and he made up his mind that he was not going to lose her again. They remained locked in their hug until the waiter came around with their food and House reluctantly let her go.

The air was lighter after that and both House and Maya enjoyed their lunch together, with House telling her about what had happened after she had left. He told her about the way he and Cuddy had finally gotten together, how Rachel had started calling him daddy on a more regular basis, but only when they were alone, the birth of Cameron and Chase's daughter Sarah, and that Wilson and Amber still had no plans to get hitched anytime soon.

Maya on her part didn't share much, only that she had extensively travelled the world in the last three years and that while she would visit some countries again, there were some she refused to even speak about and House did not push her to talk about it. He knew it was part of her job, and like many people, Maya was one of those who hated bringing her work home, simply because it was too much to deal with. House noted that Maya hadn't changed much in the last three years; she was still as fiery and witty as ever, full of attitude and still as much as a hell raiser as she was before she left but there was something different about her – it seemed she was more relaxed, calm, in some sort of odd way.

It was in the lull of their conversation when she told him about her encounter with the rude woman in the ER, and the effect the woman had on Cuddy and she didn't miss the smile on House's face,

"Something you want to tell me, Stud?" she asked her one eyebrow arched.

"The rude woman that rubbed Cuddy up the wrong way happens to be one of the few people I know," House informed her, "and I would appreciate it if you could call her by her name, Stacy," he continued.

Stacy, the name seemed oddly familiar to Maya and it took her a few minutes to remember where she had heard that name. No, he didn't mention it that night, but by the look on his face, she was sure it was the ex-girlfriend he had told her about.

"She's the ex-girlfriend," she stated and House nodded.

"Wow, talk about complicated."

"What did she want?" House asked after a short silence.

"Not sure, I asked her to leave when I saw Cuddy getting agitated and didn't stop to ask Cameron any details. I figured Cuddy would call me if she needed help with the woman."

The mental image of Maya pinning Stacy to a wall and actually harming her because she made Cuddy nervous floated to his mind and he had to admit, that if it did come to that, he would not stop the younger woman. Stacy had left him, twice, and Cuddy and Wilson were the ones to pick up the pieces of his broken heart, and he would be damned if he allowed her to hurt Cuddy again.

The loud sound of Maya's ringing phone disturbed the peace and House knew by the look on her face that she had to leave, and that even if her asked her why, she would not tell him. He called for their waiter and pulled out a few dollars from his pocket, intending to pay for their lunch – he had seen her after three years, it was the least he could do. The waiter stared at him, and then turned to Maya, uncertain of whether to accept the payment or not but Maya simply looked at him and laughed.

"This one's on the house, Greg," she smiled at his confused look but let him be.

They made their way out of the eating house and she drove him back to the hospital, even accompanying him to his office, which was thankfully deserted. Before she leave his office, he once again grabbed her and locked her in another bear hug, squeezing her as much as he could without actually hurting her.

"If you even think of leaving again, I will kill you!" he growled in her ear, which granted him a soft laugh from her.

She pulled back so that she could face him, cupped his cheeks in her palms and caught his gaze with hers, "I am not going to leave you, Stud, I swear," she reassured him before hugging him once more.

They were caught off guard when they heard a voice float into his office.

"Greg, there's something important I need to…" House looked up to see Stacy staring at him, wide eyed and open mouthed. He didn't bother removing his arms from Maya's body and the younger woman decided to play along with the diagnostician. She snaked her hand up his chest under his shirt and smiled when he looked at her, silently acknowledging her action and giving her permission to continue what she was doing. Stacy stood watching the pair nervously, her heart thumping wildly in her chest.

"So I guess I'll see you tonight," Maya said throatily, loud enough for the other woman to hear, kissed House on the cheek and made her way out of his office, leaving Stacy's mind running at a mile a minute. She was thankful that Stacy had not recognized her as the woman from the ER earlier.

This was definitely going to be fun…

H O U S E M D

Much to Amber's amusement, Cameron and Thirteen were scoping out what they called the hot, eligible, and devastatingly handsome men that decided to come out to a club on a Friday evening, while Cuddy sat nervously in her seat, her thoughts once again running at a mile a minute. After Stacy had left Cuddy's office two weeks ago the young, blonde doctor had wasted no time in asking her boss what the other woman wanted, but she found that Cuddy could not answer her simply because Stacy had not told her anything yet. The lawyer was still trying to find out if House was in a serious relationship with someone and whether the brown haired, dark eyed little girl she had seen at the park was actually his daughter.

"What do you think she wants to know?" Thirteen asked her boss's boss, her green eyes twinkling with amusement. She found there was nothing more entertaining than watching House and Cuddy trying to outdo each other, openly flirt with each other and then still try to deny that there was nothing more than twenty odd years of friendship between them. Still the nervous look on the older woman's face told her that this was going to be a long night.

It was heading on to half past eight and for some insane reason Cuddy hoped that Stacy had actually forgotten about their little drinks date. She had insisted that they meet up for drinks later that week, but Cuddy had informed her that her week was already packed and that the only time she could make it was two weeks from then. Cameron had then taken it upon herself to ask Amber and Thirteen to join herself and Cuddy for drinks that evening and thankfully they had accepted the invite. Her hope was short lived though when she heard Cameron groan and the lilt of Stacy's southern accent greeting the blonde doctor and Cuddy.

A waiter approached their table ready to take their drinks order and Cuddy was more than ready to drown herself in alcohol tonight. They had all just placed their orders when Cuddy heard the voice she was not expecting to hear, and looked up to see a beaming Maya looking back at her. Cuddy smiled inwardly and let out a breath of relief – if there was anyone she knew that could rile up Stacy without any effort, she knew it was Maya. Cuddy had pondered over calling the young woman for a few days, and finally at the last minute called her, praying that she would decline the invite. Maya made her way to the table and greeted the women she knew, and merely glanced in Stacy's direction before pulling up a chair and seating herself between the lawyer and Cuddy.

Stacy studied the newcomer with great interest. She looked younger than the rest, though she was not sure. Maya looked relaxed in her black sneakers, a pair of blue, bootlegged jeans, her usual black printed T-shirt this time reading "I am who I am… your approval is not needed," in bright orange font. Her hair was loose and tumbled down her back in soft curls, her eyes were sparkling and her plum painted lips were turned up in a half smirk. Amber, Cameron and Cuddy already knew words were going to tumble from her mouth and they avoided looking at each other to keep from giggling out loud.

"Flattered as I am that you're checking me out," Maya stated, looking directly at Stacy, "I have to tell you that I am already in a relationship." A brilliant blush rose to Stacy's neck, face and ears, and the others tried to stifle in their laughter.

"I was not checking you out, I am very happily married," Stacy replied hastily, her tone belying the latter half of her words.

"I'm sure you are." Maya smiled sweetly at Stacy: she certainly knew how to push someone's buttons…

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Please leave a review letting me know if you guys like where this is going and if you want me to continue.

Also a happy belated new year to everyone and hope you have a splendid year ahead.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**A/N:** Wow an entire year later and this is finally done. It's been a long and wonderful journey and I want thank everyone who stayed on for the ride. However everything comes to an end and I am afraid this fic has reached the end. Hope you guys enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks to my beta who read through for me…

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Chapter 17

Another two weeks passed since their drinks date and Cuddy was beginning to wonder if Maya really had left for the second time, without saying a word about it to anyone. Even though the younger woman had promised her that she would be around whenever Cuddy needed her, the Dean was not sure whether Maya would actually be in Princeton itself. She had been back for almost five months and she had seen Maya maybe twice in all that time and she was not sure whether House had met her already, though she did not mention Maya's trip to the clinic a few weeks ago and Rachel didn't even know the woman she had become so attached to was in town. She thought about calling Maya, but then decided not to – she was not going to force the woman to visit them if she didn't want to.

Cuddy picked up the pen from her desk and began reading through one of the many budget proposals that were littered across her desk and she began to make notes for the things that would need her attention later on. As if she were reading her friend's mind, Maya slowly and quietly entered Cuddy's office, not wanting to disturb the hospital administrator from doing her job. When she saw that Cuddy's full attention was focused on the paperwork in front of her Maya took a seat on the couch in the corner of the Dean's office and waited until she finished with all the documents that needed to be read and signed. This was not a conversation she wanted to rush and neither was it one that she wanted anyone else to hear.

It was three quarters of an hour later when Cuddy finally looked up from the document she was working on. It had taken her that long just to go over the figures and check that the amounts were indeed correct and that she was not signing off on expenses she was not aware of. The slight movement at the other end of her office alerted her that she was not alone and Cuddy picked up her pen once again, this time holding it as a weapon, just in case anyone tried to attack her. She let out a breath though when she saw it was Maya seated on the couch, her gaze assessing the Dean warily. Even though she knew the younger woman would not harm her, Cuddy felt her body tense and Maya saw the way the older woman sat up straighter in her chair. Just judging by the older woman's posture, Maya knew it was going to be a long afternoon.

"When did you get here? I didn't hear you entering my office," Cuddy asked after a short silence.

"Almost an hour ago. I was going to let you know I was here, but you were so engrossed in your work I decided to leave you be," Maya replied, a small smile gracing her lips.

"And you decided to wait until I was done?" the hospital administrator asked, surprised that Maya had waited so long for her.

"Yeah well, I thought it was important enough to wait for," Maya admitted and Cuddy once again tensed at the younger woman's words.

"Looking at your reaction to my statement, I can safely assume that you haven't told Greg what that damn witch wanted, yet," Maya continued not wanting to lose her nerve.

"No, I haven't," Cuddy replied softly.

"And when are you planning on telling him? When it's already too late?" Maya asked as gently as she could and even though she did not appreciate the twenty questions session, Cuddy knew the younger woman was right.

House would want to know about something this big, hell she would want to know something this big, especially when it affected the lives of everyone around her. The only problem was, Cuddy did not want to just drop it on him, she wanted to explain it, in great detail to him, and she wanted to make it clear that the final decision was his to make and that he should not let other factors cloud his judgement.

"I don't want him to feel like I'm pressuring him into anything," Cuddy said as she stood up from her chair and slowly walked to where Maya was still seated on her couch.

"That is one decision he should make on his own," she said softly and Maya was unsure whether Cuddy was trying to convince herself or the woman sitting across her.

Seeing the expression on Cuddy's face, Maya instinctively reached out and clasped the hospital administrator's hands in hers, causing the gray eyed woman to meet her gaze.

"I know you would like to believe that this is not going to change anything, but it is, and if you don't fight for what you want, you're going to end up losing everything you fought so hard to get in the first place," the words flowed off Maya's tongue and Cuddy nodded her head, understanding exactly what the other woman was saying.

It had taken House and her years to get to where they were in their relationship, he was happy and almost off the Vicodin, he adored Rachel as though she was his own kid and the cherry on the top was that he considered them to be a family and that thought made Cuddy smile. But life as she knew it was going to change in the next few days and she hoped they would somehow get through it unscathed.

"I ran into Stiffy outside Greg's office earlier today, and I think she took the liberty of telling him exactly what she wanted him to do for her, despite what we had told her two weeks ago," the sound of Maya's voice brought her out of her thoughts and Cuddy knew they were thinking the same thing – this was going to a long, rough few days…

"Have you spoken to Seth yet?" Cuddy questioned the dark eyed woman after a few moments.

Maya's head shot up so fast Cuddy thought she was about to suffer whiplash. The hospital administrator also saw the flash of anger and hurt that passed through the younger woman's eyes and wondered what was going on in her little head. Cuddy had seen the look that passed between Seth and Maya the night they had run into him when they had gone on their ladies night out. It was then also that Cuddy recalled the way Seth had been hovering over a clearly very pregnant woman as he guided them to a table near where they had been seated. He had looked over at them a few times, but always diverted his gaze back to the people at his table when Cuddy had looked his way. She had thought he would at least come over and say hi, but he did nothing of that sort and neither did Maya. She wondered what had gone on between them but she decided not to ask, Maya was a private person by nature and Seth had left soon after Maya had disappeared so Cuddy did not get a chance to ask him.

"There's nothing to talk about, we're two different people from two very different worlds," Maya replied, the tone of her voice indicating that the subject was no up for discussion and so Cuddy didn't press her for anything more.

H O U S E M D

House rubbed the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes as he turned to face the inside of his office. The bright sunlight was just adding to the headache that had already formed from him thinking about Maya. She had promised to visit him as soon as she had a free minute, but since their lunch meeting over three weeks ago, House had yet to hear from the dark haired, dark eyed woman and frankly he was beginning to wonder if she once again had just upped and left without saying a word,. He knew Cuddy had met her at least twice already, once when the women had gone for a night out on the town and once before that, obviously when the date had been planned but his boss hadn't said anything else about the younger woman and House decided he was not going to press the issue. Cuddy would let him know if there was something to be concerned about when it came to Maya. Then again maybe she wouldn't, seeing as she had been trying with more effort than he knew was necessary to avoid him, whether it was at the hospital or even at home.

He stood up, fisted his hands into the sleeves of his black leather jacket and picked up his backpack, ready to leave his office and the hospital, seeing that he did not have a patient and his surroundings and the squabbling of his minions were only adding to his already pounding headache. House had barely stepped his foot out of the office when he was stopped by a hand on his chest, preventing him from going any further than he already had. The diagnostician looked up from the hand on his chest to the person attached to the other end of the hand was surprised to see Maya's gaze fixed on his face, her expression one he had never seen on her before that day, not even the day she had been hit by the drunk driver almost three years ago.

Not impressed with her ability to throw him off balance with just her mere presence, House decided to be as mean as he possibly could have been to her. There was no need for him to show her how much her absence had affected him in the last few days.

"Sorry, I'm off the clock," he said as he made a show of actually looking at his wrist, despite the fact that he in fact did not wear a watch, "you'll have to make an appointment like everyone else," he continued, ignoring the look of surprise on her face and tried to step past her.

"We need to talk," she replied, making it known that it was not a question or a request, it was a demand and judging by the look on her face, House was sure she was not going to leave without having a chat with him.

"Yeah I'm sure it can wait one more day, what difference is a few hours going to make?" he asked and Maya heard the sarcasm pouring out with every word, but she held her tongue and let him vent out whatever he had to. When he had finally finished she started talking again.

"House this is the…" but her sentence was cut short when they both heard the southern drawl coming from the end of the hallway.

"Greg, do you have a few minutes? There's something important I need to talk to you about." Stacy didn't miss a beat and House didn't miss the triumphant look she shot in Maya's direction as though she was proving a point.

Before House could even speak though, Maya had already made the decision for him and walked away, leaving him stunned at her abnormal behaviour and leaving Stacy more happy than he had ever seen her in his entire life. He wondered for a moment what Stacy had said to Maya to react the way she did, seeing as Maya was a person who stood up for what she knew was right, and she would never have backed down from a challenge no matter how impossible the task seemed. He turned his attention to the lawyer and motioned for her to enter his office as he slowly limped back to his chair behind his glass desk. Stacy followed a few feet behind him and took a seat on one of the empty chairs across where he was seated.

Now that he thought about it, if House had a choice in the matter he would have much rather had a long meaningful conversation with Maya than one that would irritate the hell out of him with Stacy Warner. Granted she had been a major part of his life at one point in time, but that was years ago, and he was happy, with a family of his own now. He was happy with the way things were going with him and Cuddy, Rachel thought of him as her hero, her dad who could do no wrong and Maya had returned to him, closing the gap that he had felt when she had left. No, he had absolutely no desire to get involved with anything that had to do with a certain Stacy Warner – he was done with her.

Fate, it seemed was not on the lawyer's side however when House's pager went off and a few seconds later, so did the pagers of his four lackeys. They got up one by one and immediately made their way to the ER where Cameron had paged them from, and House followed them, not even bothering to explain his lack of excitement at seeing his ex girlfriend's face. Stacy, though, did not share the same feeling and placed a hand on his forearm hoping to stop the lanky man from walking out on her, but House had already made up his mind and traced the footsteps of his minions two minutes later.

When he finally reached the clinic he was surprised to see both his teams standing at the nurses' station looking into Cuddy's office. His curiosity already piqued House took a few steps forward until he too was able to look into the Dean's office. He was surprised at the scene of Maya and Cuddy seated on Cuddy's couch, Maya's arm banded around Cuddy's small frame as though she was trying to comfort the older woman. His suspicion was now confirmed, something had definitely gone down the night the women had gone out but no one saw it fit to tell him. He had taken three steps in the direction of Cuddy's office but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. House stopped and turned to glare at the person who had dared to stop him. Thirteen, however, was not intimidated by the look he shot her and merely shook her head, indicating that he was to leave the pair alone.

"They'll come to you when they're ready House. Don't push either one of them to tell you because you will only do more damage than anything else," she informed him and House nodded his head. Clearly whatever had gone on between the women was serious enough for Thirteen to actually risk him yelling at her for telling him to wait for them to approach him. It also only then hit him that Amber and Wilson hadn't been visiting for a few weeks. Fine he would give them a bit of time, but if they did not come to him in a week he was going to force them to tell him what had happened.

H O U S E M D

When Cuddy walked into her home at eleven o clock two nights later, she was not surprised to see all the lights had been turned off and the inside was shrouded in darkness. She set her bag on the floor in the foyer and slowly walked in the direction of the bathroom, ready to just change into a pair of comfortable pyjamas and call it a night. She thought about checking in on her daughter but then decided against it as Rachel was probably fast asleep already, it being way past her bedtime. Cuddy tiredly ran her hand down her face and hoped sleep would find her as soon as her head hit the pillow. She had, had enough of this week, and was ready to get it over with. She hadn't known avoiding House was going to take so much effort and she hated that she was consciously hurting him by doing so.

With that thought running through her mind, Cuddy silently walked to her bedroom, and pushed and settled herself on her bed, the mattress dipping slightly with her weight now on it. She didn't even realise she was crying until she felt the tears falling onto her hands and Cuddy wiped them away with the flick of her hand as she stood up and finally made her way to the bathroom to change her clothes and ready herself for bed. After she had finished with her bathroom routine Cuddy made her rounds through her house, making sure all the windows were closed and the doors locked. A soft noise from the lounge startled her and she switched on the small passage light, so as to not startle whatever it was in there. To say that she was surprised at what she saw was understatement of the week.

Spread out on the floor in her living room was a soft, large, plush blanket and in the corner of the room, in the fireplace was a giant poster of flames licking at logs. With her interest now aroused, Cuddy took a tentative step forward and saw the small table in the corner of the room littered with food. She heard him before she saw him and Cuddy smiled at the sight of him dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a Jack Daniels T-shirt.

"You planning on standing there all night or are you actually going to join me?" he asked her and Cuddy carefully walked to where he was now seated and sat herself down on the floor beside him, one eyebrow raised in question at him.

"What's going on?" she asked him when he didn't offer her any explanation.

"Rachel thought it would be a good idea if we had a picnic dinner and she really wanted to wait for you but she fell asleep just after half past eight," he said, his voice devoid of all emotion and Cuddy felt the pang of hurt burst in her chest.

"You haven't cleaned up yet," she said after a short silence passed.

"Yeah well, I'm still hungry," he admitted and the sound of his rumbling tummy alerted Cuddy as to how hungry he really was and she felt guilty for keeping both her daughter and House waiting. If there was one thing she knew, it was that House never stayed hungry and for him to wait up for her was a big thing, but it was not the only thing that had kept him awake that night.

"What's for dinner?" she asked, a small smile creeping up her lips, and her eyes shining with laughter.

"Macaroni and cheese, and for you a bowl of steaming vegetable soup and bread, because I know how you feel about eating melted cheese at this time of the day," House answered her and Cuddy smiled at him. It was not until then that Cuddy realised just how much attention House paid to her and everything about her even with something as small as not eating cheese so late at night.

He handed her a bowl with soup and two slices of still warm toasted bread, which Cuddy willingly accepted and began to eat with gusto. She hadn't had time to eat during the day and the salad and one small serving of frozen yoghurt certainly had not satisfied her hunger. The diagnostician watched his friend as she ate and he began on his serving of macaroni and cheese as well, not wanting to let her eat alone as he gazed at her. They ate mostly in silence with Cuddy telling him how good the soup tasted and thanking him for waiting up for her so they could eat together. When they had finished eating, House took the empty bowl from her, picked up some of the dishes and deposited them in the kitchen sink. Cuddy mimicked his actions and gathered the rest of the stuff and packed them in their places as House put the dishes in the dishwasher and closed it, starting the cycle as he did so.

Without thinking about it, he switched on the coffee machine and waited for the beans to brew and the water to heat. When that was finally ready, House poured two mugs full of the steaming, bitter brown liquid, handed one to his boss then retraced his steps to the living room where they had been seated. Once Cuddy had settled herself across House, she looked up at him, closely examining his expression, seeing if she could figure out what was going on in the overworked mind of his. House, on his part, gave nothing away, and kept his facial expression devoid of any and all emotion. He knew she would not in a million years be expecting this, and while he also wanted Rachel to be a part of it, he was glad that the sprog was asleep and that he and Cuddy could share this moment with just themselves.

House was thinking with a lot of effort of how he was going to do this right, but not make a big deal out of it, when parts of a conversation he had shared with Maya flooded his mind. He smiled at the memory, mentally thanking the dark eyed woman for her genius and decided to use the actual words she had used on him. With his heart thundering in his chest, House nervously cleared his throat, bringing Cuddy out of her daze and focusing her attention solely on the man sitting opposite her. When he had finally gathered up enough courage to do it, House reached out his arm in her direction and waited for Cuddy to put her hand in his. He pulled her closer to him and Cuddy did not object when he sat her down next to him, her back brushing his chest as they sat in silence for a few minutes.

"I've been thinking…," he started slowly and while Cuddy was not looking at him, she nodded her head, prompting him to continue talking.

'Well, twenty years is a long time of foreplay… don't you think?" he questioned her and this time Cuddy turned around to face him, obviously confused by his question.

It was then that House finally pulled the diamond studded platinum ring out of his jeans pocket and held it out in her direction. He watched as the emotions flitted across her face and how her eyes first shone with happiness, then sparked with fury and finally settled on darkened hurt and disappointment. Her lips however were set in a small smile, though House was absolutely sure that it was there simply because she forced herself to smile and not because she felt the happy emotions stirring in her body as it should have been. If there was one reaction he had been expecting, it clearly was not this one – they had spent too much time wanting this, waiting for it to happen when they were both ready for it, and House certainly thought they were, but Cuddy's reaction had thrown him for a loop.

Cuddy turned her body to face him, her eyes downcast hoping that he would not have seen her reaction, but she knew better – House was not a person who missed anything; he was too observant for his own damn good. She heaved in a breath and finally lifted her head so that she could look at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Cuddy cupped his cheek with one hand and rubbed the pad of her thumb against his stubble, liking the way it felt against her skin. She leaned in and gently pressed her lips to his in a soft, languid kiss, and smiled when she felt House respond to her kiss. However, before he could deepen the kiss, Cuddy reluctantly tore her mouth away from his, her heart already aching at what she was about to do.

"I'm sorry House, but I can't do this," she said softly, as a lone tear ran down her cheek.

House felt like the wind had been knocked right out of him, like he had been sliced open on the operating table and the anaesthetist had forgotten to put him under. It was worse than when he had woken up in complete agony after his thigh muscle had been removed following his infarction. He wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. He was about to ask her why she thought she could not spend the rest of her life with him as they had planned but she had beat him to it.

"I can't give you what you want, House," she informed him, her voice lacking in emotion. "I can't make you happy," she continued when he didn't say anything.

The diagnostician was still trying to wrap his head around her first reason for rejecting his proposal.

"Cuddy," he began, but she cut him off.

"House, what if we do this and tomorrow you realise you made a mistake, what then?" she asked him.

"Do you think this is a mistake?" he asked her in return.

"What if in a few weeks or months from now, you wake up and realise that you could have this with someone else, a woman who could give you everything you wanted? You could have a family of your own, kids of your own… calling you daddy…" the words fell from her mouth without her knowledge.

"What are you talking about?" he finally asked her, his mind running at a hundred miles a minute. Rachel already referred to him as her daddy, though not as often in public as he liked or even in front of Cuddy, but hell for at least the last four years of their lives he was the only man she considered to be her father.

She opened her mouth to tell him exactly what was running through her mind, but then decided against it. She did not want him to make a decision based on her reaction to his question.

"I can't…" she said again but House shook his head, indicating that he did not believe a word she was saying.

"You can't or you won't?" he questioned, his voice now rising with every word due to the rise of his anger as well.

When she remained silent House took it as his answer and stood up abruptly, knocking his now cold coffee cup over as he did so, allowing the liquid to spill onto the blanket. He slowly walked toward the door, hoping Cuddy would stop him and explain just why she couldn't do this, but she barely moved from where she was still seated and so he walked out of the House, without another word, the door closing with a resounding thud as he started up his bike and revved the engine before taking off into the dark of the night. He rode straight home and retrieved the bottle of bourbon he had stashed in his linen closet and opened the lid. He didn't bother with a glass, knowing that it didn't matter if he measured his shots; he was going to finish the bottle, with the hope that the alcohol would numb his pain…

Cuddy crumpled to the ground, her small body heaving with silent sobs as she cried into the blanket. She hated herself for doing that to him, making him doubt himself, but there was no other way she could do it. It was the only way she could think of, of giving him a chance to make a decision that was not dependant on what she felt for him. This was his choice, and his choice alone to make, no matter what Thirteen, Amber or even Cameron said. She would at least give him that….

H O U S E M D

Four days had passed in a haze and Cuddy knew she had to so something about the situation between herself and House. While he had maintained his professional relationship with her, he had avoided her for the entire work week. He had sent his minions to get her consent when he needed it to perform insane and some invasive tests on his patient for the week and while Cuddy would not have admitted it, she was grateful. It meant that she didn't have to face him and have to see the pain and disappointment in his eyes every time he looked at her. It also meant she had another day to prepare what she was supposed to tell him, but it seemed that it was just not going to happen. She just could not gather up enough courage to actually broach the subject with him.

She needed help with this and telling House about it, but there was no way she was going to ask Wilson for his help, or even Cameron. Granted Wilson and Stacy were friends for a long time, Cuddy just didn't feel that he needed to be included in this particular discussion, and while she knew Cameron would take her side, the younger doctor was too loyal to House to see anything clearly and she needed someone who was neutral in this – someone who didn't have a relationship with either House or Stacy, someone who could see things from both sides of the fence. Without consciously thinking about it, Cuddy lifted the handset from its cradle and dialled a number. She allowed it to ring a total of six times, and was deciding to hang up on the seventh when she heard a breathless "Tyler" greet her.

Cuddy looked at the phone as though it had mutilated into something else, and wondered if she had in fact dialled the correct number. She pulled up her contact list on her email program and verified that she had, but she was still unsure. She heard a noise coming from the speaker and decided there was no harm in actually asking if whoever had answered knew where Maya was.

"Uh hi, I'm Dr Lisa Cuddy from Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. I was wondering if I could talk to Maya if she's available," she said into the speaker and two seconds later was rewarded with a loud laugh.

"I'm listening Dr Cuddy," came the reply and Cuddy let out a breath of relief.

A quick conversation and an invite for Saturday lunch together at the house later, Cuddy hung up the phone, her mind already at ease at the thought that Maya was going to be there to help her with her issue. It was not that she needed the younger woman to talk for her; she just needed someone for moral support and maybe some encouragement to continue what she had started. Cuddy had just placed the receiver back in its cradle when Wilson stepped into her office, looking more flustered than she had seen him in a long time. He looked as though he wanted to tell her something and yet there was something holding him back, and Cuddy knew this could only mean it was nothing good.

"James," she greeted as he slowly walked to her desk and sank into one of her plush chairs.

"You look… bothered," she noted and Wilson nodded his head in agreement.

"Stacy called. She wants to meet up on Saturday to have lunch. She says she has something very important to discuss with House and she asked if I could make sure his teenaged hooker girlfriend was there too," he informed her before he could stop himself.

"Teenaged girlfriend?" Cuddy raised a questioning brow in the oncologist's direction though she left out the word hooker.

"I think she was talking about Maya," Wilson said and Cuddy nodded her head in acknowledgment.

Yeah, Stacy would have referred to Maya as a teenaged hooker, seeing as Maya did very little to dissuade the lawyer from thinking she was a call girl whom House had taken a very keen interest in. Cuddy was also sure that Maya could have come up with many more colourful words and descriptions that would have suited the stiff upper lipped lawyer well.

"Though why does she think Maya is House's girlfriend?" Wilson thought out loud, and Cuddy had to suppress her grin at the memory of Stacy hearing from both Cameron and Thirteen how House had been absolutely taken by the young, vibrant, sassy woman almost three years ago.

"She assumed it, and none of us bothered to correct her," Cuddy finally answered and this time Wilson shot her confused look.

"Well whatever it is, please make sure you inform Maya that she needs to be present, and I think it would be a very good idea if you came along too, seeing as you are House's better half," Wilson smiled at her as he stood up from his seat and made his way to the doors leading out of his boss's office. "I'll send you the specifics later," he offered as he walked out and Cuddy merely nodded her head.

H O U S E M D

House retrieved his cell phone from his pocket and dialled her number playing with his oversized red and grey tennis ball as he waited for Maya to answer. It rang four times before she answered breathlessly, and House smiled at the mental image that made its way to his brain. He sobered up two minutes later though when he realised that if he didn't start talking soon she was going to hang up on him and he really did not have the time for games.

"We need to talk," he said into the phone, not bothering to offer her a greeting or anything else.

"Well too bad, I'm busy. Feel free to call me on the weekends though, since my work hours are five in the morning until eleven at night," Maya said in a cool voice and House knew she was simply giving him a taste of his own damn medicine.

"Yeah that's the reason they have emergency numbers," he countered and waited for her response. He had missed this between them and he was hoping she did too, but was disappointed when he heard her response a minute later.

"House, I really don't have time for this right now…" she started; her calm tone and the use of his surname shocked the diagnostician. She had never referred to him as House in the five years he had known her. He was always Greg, or Stud or Sexy or anything that fitted her mood at that moment so for her to call him by his surname rattled him a bit. Not bothering to hear any of her excuses or explanations House started talking before she could.

"Cuddy rejected my proposal," he informed her, trying to keep the disappointment from showing in his voice.

"Well, if you stop asking to do insane procedures on your patients maybe she'll stop rejecting them," Maya offered and House let out an irritated sigh.

"Not professionally," House clarified, "I told her I was in it for the long run, gave her the ring and everything and she turned me down, not even thinking twice about it."

"Did you not ask her the reason for her answer?" House heard the concern in his friend's voice and he was just glad she had finally decided to hear him out.

"She said I should wait a while longer, and that she didn't have anything to offer me, she could not make me happy," House informed Maya, his voice full of disbelief.

"House, you need to give her a bit of time to sort herself out, I know this is the last thing you want to hear right now, but you have to trust me on this. If you push her its only going to make it worse," Maya advised him and House decided to listen to her despite that fact that he wanted to storm into Cuddy's office and demand to know just what the hell was going on in that head of hers.

"Listen, Cuddy told me about the lunch your ex girlfriend Stacy want to have, and she invited me over, so I'll see you then and we'll sort this out," Maya assured him a few minutes later. House nodded his head, forgetting the fact that Maya could not see him doing so.

This had to be good, Stacy wanting to have a get together with House and his girlfriend; he should have known it had something to do with her. The woman had a knack of always ruining something good that came his way, and he didn't appreciate it because it was not often that good things came his way.

H O U S E M D

She watched as the white ball was spat out of the thin long tubing powered by a mechanical motor, concentrating on the speed with which it came hurtling toward her. Maya closed her mind to everything else around her, her attention focused solely on the ball and the baseball bat in her hands. She waited until what she thought was the perfect time and swung the bat forward with all her might, and smiled internally when she heard the sound of the wooden bat make contact with the ball. Maya followed through with the swing and watched as the ball flew into the air, almost halfway over the field before starting to drop on the opposite end of the grounds. She felt the satisfaction of whacking the ball with enough force to shatter it run through her body. There was nothing in the world that could make her feel the way she did when she was at the batting cages, except for the thrill of riding her motorcycle but Liam had banned her from riding it for at least another three months so the batting cages it was. She was free here, free to think, free to be violent, free to let out whatever emotions it was that was clogging up her brain. It was her place of solitude.

The dark eyed woman was disturbed fifteen minutes later, though, when she heard her name being called out. Not wanting to be in the company of anyone, she ignored the voice and continued to pound the balls being pitched at her to the other side of the field. Maya finally turned to look at the person who had been calling her when he came up to the gate where she stood, his one hand already opening the lock to her cage, intensely surprised when she saw Seth looking concernedly at her.

"What do you want?" she asked him, her voice cold and flat, knowing it would probably hurt the man standing across her but not caring.

"I got a call from an Agent Cahill earlier, he asked if I could come and talk to you," Seth said, his voice soft but his gaze still locked on hers.

"Liam is an ass, sticking his nose where it doesn't belong."

"Well now that you're here talk all you want, doesn't mean I'm going to listen," she retorted, repositioning her bat and starting the machine once again.

The ball came flying toward her and she swung with all her might and was shocked to see that she had missed. The process was repeated thrice more and Maya had missed all three of them, causing her anger to rise once more at her inability to actually concentrate anymore.

Seth opened the gate and stepped in slowly, not to actually anger her more that she already was, but he decided that if she was going to blow off steam by hitting balls then he should at least help her do that. He came up behind her, making sure to not touch her until he was sure she was not going to try and hit him with the bat. When he was close as he needed to be, he started speaking in a soft calm tone.

"You're tense, you need to loosen the grip a little and bring your shoulders down," he advised her.

When she did not react to his guidance, Seth placed his hands on her shoulders and massaged them a bit, before he ran his hands down the length of her arms and toward the bat. He loosened the grip she had on the wooden handle and repositioned her arms, so that she would now be able to actually whack the ball. He waited for the ball to come lunging in their direction and he swung the bat, and smiled when he felt the wood make contact with the bat. Seth felt Maya's body sag into his and he dropped the bat to his side and held her so that she was close to him, her back pressed up against his chest. Even though he wanted to ask her to tell him exactly what was going on, Seth waited for her to start talking, not wanting to take the risk of her closing herself off to him again.

"She's going to screw Dr Cuddy over," Maya said softly, her words were soft and filled with hurt.

"She's going to manipulate Greg into giving her what she wants and then she is going to walk away without a care in the world, leaving them to pick up the pieces for themselves," she continued when Seth didn't say anything. "Neither of them will survive this."

"House and Cuddy are both adults, they can take care of themselves," Seth offered kindly.

"Doesn't make it any easier though."

"Want to tell me what's going on?" he asked and Maya was about to tell him when she remembered the pregnant woman from the restaurant.

"It's nothing that I can't handle, you should get home, I'm sure your girlfriend could use a bit of help," she informed him, but looked confusedly at him when he laughed at her statement.

"She's not my girlfriend. Maya, she's a friend of my sister who is here for a few months," Seth informed her and Maya let out a breath of relief she didn't know she was holding.

He slowly turned her around to face him, his arms weaved around her lower back and his forehead pressed to hers. Seth pulled her into him, enclosing her in a bear hug, hoping that she would understand what he was trying to tell her with that one action. He felt the corners of his mouth turning up into a smile when he felt her arms banding around his neck and upper back in response.

"So when do we this woman out of Lisa's hair?" he asked, his chest rumbling slightly as he spoke, causing Maya to giggle slightly.

H O U S E M D

By the time they knew it Saturday afternoon had already arrived and the group of doctors along with Seth but minus House were seated in Cuddy's lounge. Maya had come over extra early so that she could help the hospital administrator with the food preparation which they decided to forego, settling on just ordering something in when she saw Cuddy starting to hyper ventilate with all the thinking she was doing. Cuddy had told her all about Stacy and House's past, well what she knew of it; how the other woman had walked away from House after the infarction and the operation on his leg that saved his life. How she re-entered his life a few years later getting House to cure her husband, Mark, who Maya didn't mention she had met. Even then Stacy had been a whirlwind in House's life, entering and disappearing as she willed not bothering to check all the damage she had caused… Needless to say Maya was not Stacy's greatest fan either and the faster she got rid of the woman the better it was for all of them.

Stacy and Mark arrived a few minutes after one and Cuddy Cameron immediately called the pizza parlour to deliver the food they had ordered almost fifteen minutes before. The dark haired lawyer looked around the room warily, examining each of the doctors as she laid her eyes on them. She frowned when her gaze settled on Seth, but he made no move to introduce himself to her or ask her who she was either. She noted that Amber and Cameron were also present along with Wilson and Chase and while she wanted to ask them to leave, the fact that they were at Cuddy's home didn't allow her to.

"She should have asked to meet at a neutral location," was the thought that ran through her head as she made her way to the empty sofa on the opposite side of the room, Mark following a few steps behind her. Wilson began with small talk as soon as the greetings were done, knowing it was going to be awkward, but he just wanted this to be over with. For once in his life, he did not want to be a part of something he knew was going to affect his best friend.

"Where's House?" Stacy asked after fifteen minutes had passed and the diagnostician still had not arrived.

"He took Rachel out for a while, he should be back soon," Cuddy replied.

Maya directed her question at Cameron and Chase, asking them where Sarah was when Cameron blushed and admitted that she had left her daughter with Thirteen and Kutner because they had lost a bet and the losers had to babysit Sarah for an afternoon.

She had just finished talking and the front door swished open with force, her daughter running into the house at full speed and House walking in slowly behind her. Cuddy smiled at the sight of her daughter, her long locks waving as she ran into the lounge a huge smile plastered across her lips and her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"You can wait for the rest of your clan you know," House growled as he walked to the lounge, with Rachel's friend walking two steps ahead of him.

But the little girl was too excited about something to even hear what House had to say and he knew she could not wait to tell her mother what had happened.

"Dad and I went to watch Alice in Wonderland," she gushed out looking at Cuddy, her brown eyes wide with excitement and then we saw a huge Dr Cockroach furry toy and dad said he would get it for me…" she continued not even pausing to take a breath as she told her mother that House had promised to buy her the damn life sized furry friend. Cuddy could only roll her eyes in response, already thinking about a hundred new ways to kill House for even entertaining the thought of buying the thing.

Maya watched as Rachel spoke to her mother, taking in both their expressions. It was clear that Rachel was the centre of Cuddy's world and that Rachel felt the same about her mother. Maya chanced a glance in the diagnostician's direction and was not surprised to see the expression of pure happiness on his face; he was finally happy and the younger woman decided that nothing and no one was going to change that, and certainly not one selfish lawyer.

"I'm sorry but Dr Cockroach is already taken," Maya's voice floated from somewhere behind Cuddy and Rachel looked up to find where it had come from. It was only then that she had seen Stacy and Mark were also present and while she offered them a shy smile she didn't bother offering a verbal greeting. Instead she turned her attention to finding the owner of the voice. The little girl caught the slight movement behind where her mother was standing and her smile increased ten fold when she saw just who was standing there. Without even thinking about it Rachel ran across the room and powered in Maya direction, hitting her with full force as she crashed into the younger woman causing both of them to fall onto the floor.

"Hey Squirt," Maya managed to say when she had finally got her breath back. Rachel just burrowed her head into the Maya's shoulder, making sure she was really there. "Yeah I missed you too," Maya smiled when Rachel palmed her cheeks and hugged her again and Maya returned the hug, squeezing the little girl gently.

Stacy watched the scene unfold with captivated attention, a thousand questions running through her mind, though none staying long enough that she would remember to ask. The silence was broken a few minutes later when the door bell rang and Wilson stood up to answer it. The smell of hot pizzas made its way into the lounge and Cuddy brought out the paper plates and cups she and Maya had found earlier. Maya grabbed two huge slices and placed them on two plates before handing them to Rachel and her friend and suggesting that they could eat in her bedroom while the adults discussed a few work issues. Rachel took her plate and nodded her head, only too happy to be breaking a rule her mother had set a while ago and led her friend to her room. Maya saw Cuddy let out a sigh of relief at Rachel's quick understanding and then the way her spine straightened as she thought of the task ahead. Not wanting to waste any more time the young woman got straight to the point.

"So, what's got your panties in such a twist?" Maya asked, her gaze focused on Stacy, "I mean you pulled me away from something on a Saturday afternoon, so this had better be important," Maya continued, her voice showing none of the humour it had when she was talking to Rachel.

Stacy shifted uncomfortably in her seat before Mark placed a soothing hand on her forearm, encouraging her to go on.

"Mark and I are thinking of having a baby." Stacy answered and the room was immediately filled with an awkward silence.

"Okay and you need me because…?" it was clear Maya was not in the mood for games.

"It's not actually you we needed, it's House, but since you're his girlfriend and the mother of his child we thought you should be involved in the decision making too," Stacy continued and House shot Maya a confused look.

Stacy kept her gaze downcast as she carried on speaking, "We want House to be a sperm donor."

Maya watched as all their expressions changed with this request, Seth was not shocked but he was surprised, Chase's expression was one of utter disbelief while Wilson was definitely shocked. She finally looked at House, whose expression almost killed her; he looked at though his world had just collapsed around him, though he schooled his features in a matter of seconds. If she took a second longer to change the focus of her gaze from Wilson's expression to the Diagnostician's she would have missed it. Cameron and Amber remained as they were; already knowing what this was about though silent tears fell from Cuddy's eyes which she quickly brushed away before anyone else could notice.

House did not miss Cuddy's action and then all the pieces of the puzzle came together. This was what she was talking about. Having his own kids to call him daddy, a family of his own. Did she really think he wanted that? He was happy with her and Rachel and he didn't want anyone else. Rachel was as much his daughter as she was Cuddy's, just because they did not share DNA did not mean she was any less.

"No," his voice boomed through the silent room, forcing Stacy to lift her head.

"Greg I know this is a big decision, and you need a bit…" she started to talk but House simply cut her off.

"I am not interested," he said and Maya was glad that Cuddy now knew how he felt about the entire situation.

"Greg this is my last attempt at IVF, and I would," but the glare House directed at the lawyer immediately silenced her.

"Stacy are you out of your mind?" Wilson asked when he finally recovered from the shock of her earlier request.

Cameron and Chase sat there, too stunned to speak and Amber decided to simply not say anything. It was not their places to speak; Wilson had still been friends with the woman and that gave him the right to speak.

Maya cleared her throat before speaking and Cameron could already feel the tension seeping out of her body. She would know how to deal with this insane woman.

"Let's assume Greg here does agree to do this, what's in it for us?" she asked, emphasising his name simply because that was the way Stacy said it.

"What do you mean? You can't ask for monetary value when you do a sperm donation," Stacy countered.

"No one is talking about money; I'm talking about the benefits for Greg."

"If the IVF does work and you do become pregnant with HIS child, what then? Are you going to stay in Plainsboro for the rest of your pregnancy, or are you just going to up and leave as you seem to have a habit of doing? Do we get unrestricted access to the foetus's medical records, do we get invited for the doctor's appointments, but most important of all, does Greg get unrestricted access to see his child once its born?" Maya questioned and Stacy looked up at her uncomfortably. Clearly she had not thought this through, and House's girlfriend was not as young and dumb as she had assumed her to be.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," this time it was Mark who spoke up and Maya smiled at him.

"Yeah sure, you intend crossing that bridge the same way you did a few years ago?" Maya asked and Mark stiffened in his seat. House looked at Maya and shook his head, indicating that he didn't want her to bring that up, not now.

"Greg, please just consider…" Stacy started but was cut off when Maya's phone began to ring.

"Tyler" she answered and had a short conversation with whoever was on the other end of the line. After she hung up the call, Maya turned her attention to Mark, so far had not said anything that supported his wife's decision.

"You don't seem too happy with this proposal Mark, or is it just me?" she asked and the fact that Mark clenched his jaw only confirmed her suspicions.

"How would you deal with it knowing that it is House's little kid your wife is carrying, House's child that you would be bringing up? Would you love him all the same or hate him simply because of his biological relation to Greg?" It was a question all of them wanted an answer to but they were all too afraid to ask. He was saved from answering though when Wilson heard the knock on Cuddy's front door. He stood up to answer it, but Maya beat him to it, already knowing it was for her.

The sound of a baby crying its little lungs out caught them all by surprise and they were all shocked to see Agent Cahill looking as though he had been through a war and back with a tiny bundle in his arms and a diaper bag hanging from one shoulder.

"He wouldn't stop crying and I didn't know what else to do?" he explained and House had to smile at the fear he saw in the other man's face when he looked at Maya.

"Where's the mother?"

"She left this morning, I looked everywhere but I couldn't find her, she's gone," Liam informed her

She took the infant as well as the diaper bag from him, which she placed on the floor and made her way directly to where Cuddy was seated. The little spawn was clearly showing no signs of giving up just yet and while Maya knew she could have settled him down within a span of two minutes she had another plan in mind. Liam had just given her another way out…

"Thanks Liam, if there's anything else let me know," she told him and with a nod of his head Liam headed out.

Maya placed the screeching child in Cuddy's grasp before the older woman even knew what she was doing and Cuddy immediately went into mother mode, clutching the child closer to her and running a hand soothingly down its back. The baby was quiet within a few minutes, his chest heaving and falling rapidly from his breathing, and his hand holding onto Cuddy's shirt as though his life depended on it. House watched as Cuddy interacted with the baby, the beast roaring in his chest, urging him to go to her, support her in what she was doing.

"He's so small," Cuddy whispered.

"Yeah all of a week old," Maya responded giving Cuddy the baby's age.

The sound of a baby crying brought Rachel and her friend running from her room and to lounge and the sight of her mother holding a squirming though silent infant in her arms excited the little girl. Rachel rubbed a finger against the back of the baby's hand feeling his soft skin and squealing with delight when the tiny hand curled around her little finger.

"He's so small," she noted and Cuddy nodded her head at her daughter's observation.

"Can we keep him, please mommy?" she asked looking up at Cuddy, her expression hopeful.

"He's not ours Rachel, you have to ask Aunt Maya," Cuddy responded and Rachel turned to look at Maya who was grinning conspiratorially at the little girl.

"If daddy agrees, then yes you and mommy and daddy can keep him," she answered.

Stacy turned her gaze from Maya to Cuddy, and back to Maya. She could not have missed it. There was no way Cuddy and House were seeing each other. She would have known about it, or Wilson would have told her. It was impossible; they had worked together for so long and they hadn't even shown a slight interest in each other then.

"Yeah that's right. I'm not actually House's girlfriend, Dr Cuddy is, but it was fun seeing how long we could actually keep the farce up," Maya said when realisation drew on Stacy's face.

"I think you should leave, Stacy," House's voice filtered through the silence and Stacy nodded her head, grabbed her stuff and left without a second glance.

"As much fun as this has been we're going to leave too," Amber stood up pulling Wilson and Cameron with her. Chase was already standing and waiting to leave. They didn't bother waiting for anyone to see them to the door and let silently themselves out.

"I know you like to indulge Rachel in everything but telling her that we can keep this kid…" Maya stopped Cuddy mid sentence.

"I don't make promises I can't keep Dr Cuddy. I told you we'd figure this out. And I'm not lying to Rachel. This kid's mom was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and she doesn't want him. If you don't either then he goes through the system," Maya informed Cuddy who gripped the baby tighter.

"We'll keep him," House's voice was confident and Maya knew she had nothing to worry about. He was in this for the long run.

He had to ally Cuddy's fears first. "Cuddy, we're in this together, and I missed out on the first five years of Rachel's childhood, at least I'll be here this time," he said and Cuddy knew she had already made her up her mind to keep him. "I know its going to be a big change, but I'm willing to give it a shot, and well if it doesn't work we can always give him back to Maya and Seth. They could do with a few sleepless nights, and no I don't mean adult activities in bed," he grinned at Maya.

"So Smurf," Maya turned her attention to Rachel, "what are you going to call the little spawn?" she asked.

Rachel thought about it for a few minutes and then decided, "Matthew," she declared and Cuddy smiled.

"Matt it is then," House replied.

"I'll tell Liam to get the paperwork started," Maya informed Cuddy who was already engrossed in the baby's activities.

Seth stood up from his seat and slowly walked to where House was seated next to Cuddy. He offered his hand in House's direction and House eyed him sceptically before taking it. "Congratulations House I know you're going to be a fantastic father." House merely smiled at the man.

"You just had to fall in love with a wimp didn't you?" he asked Maya in a mock annoyed tone.

"Actually it was the dimples," she retorted.

"Wilson has dimples," House countered.

"Wilson has a girlfriend, and has three alimonies to pay. I'd rather stick with the blue eyed, dimpled wimp," she smiled at House and House agreed.

H O U S E M D

Three months later:

Cuddy was seated in her office behind her desk signing off on patient files while Matt slept in his temporary crib Maya had set up for Cuddy a few days after they had decided to keep the little boy. As usual House barged in without notice and Cuddy flinched at the sound of her doors being pushed open with such force. She shot a quick glance in her son's direction, hoping the sound would not wake the sleeping infant, let out a relieved breath when he merely moved his fists and went back to sleep. It still felt so weird referring to the little bundle of joy as her son.

"I need you to sign off on this," House waved a few sheet of papers in the air, getting her attention immediately.

"What insane procedure do you want to do now?" Cuddy asked the exasperation showing clearly in her voice.

"It's a simple angiocardiogram, nothing that will put my patient in danger," he answered her nonchalantly and Cuddy waved her hand, asking him for the forms to sign off on the procedure.

She scribbled on the dotted lines wherever he had placed X's and returned the sheets to him. When he made no move to exit her office, Cuddy looked up at him, noting the smile on his face. By his expression alone Cuddy knew he was up to something. House walked to where she was seated behind her desk and came to a stop next to her. He pulled the pen out from her grasp and turned her palm over to face up. House ran his thumb over the inside of her wrist and watched as her eyes changed colour. He loved when her eyes changed colour, it gave him an insight to what she was thinking. He placed his free hand on her waist and lifted her until she was standing in front of him, her chest barely millimetres away from his.

House ran his hands along her sides his fingers tickling the warm flesh under her shirt. He pulled her closer to him, eliminating the hair breadths distance between them and he lowered his head until his mouth met hers in a searing kiss. He kissed Cuddy with all the fervour he could muster, and Cuddy found herself unable to even think straight. All her breath left her as he kissed her passionately. It felt like they had been kissing forever when he reluctantly pulled his mouth away from hers.

"You know I was thinking…" he started off, "Twenty years is a long time for foreplay don't you?" he asked breathlessly, as he dropped the small, classy, sophisticated diamond ring into her shirt pocket.

He watched her reaction as her brain processed his words and it finally registered, and the accompanying smile that made its way to her lips was all the answer he needed. House exited her office before she could verbally answer him.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think about this.

Also if you haven't checked out 40 Weeks under D CSI yet, please go ahead and check it out.

It looks pretty good for now.

Have a great week.


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